According to Jaime Montilla:

Central Eureka’s beginning can be traced back to ca. 1827 when Mateo Belvis acquired Hacienda San José and later expanded it with the acquisition of adjacent lands during the 1840′.  In 1854 Hacienda San José passed on by inheritance to Carlos Manuel Fajardo Belvis (1822-1890), son of Carlos Fajardo Lara and Maria de jesús Belvis Garcia and grandson of Mateo Belvis.  Fajardo installed a steam mill and by 1868 Hacienda San José became an ingenio consisting of 1,667 cuerdas.  According to the slave register “Libro de Empadronamiento de Esclavos”, in 1871-72 haciendas San José and Luisa Josefa, owned by Carlos Manuel Fajardo had 147 slaves.  

The drop in sugar price and the general economic crisis in Puerto Rico at the end of the 19th Century, caused great losses and made Fajardo switch temporarily to growing rice and cotton among other agricultural products.  Upon the death of Carlos Manuel Fajardo Belvis in 1890, the property passed on to two of his five children; Mateo (1862-1934) and Luis (1868-1938) Fajardo Cardona.

Central Eureka, Inc. was incorporated in 1907 by Mateo and Luis Fajardo Cardona, Antonio R. Cabassa Tassara, Clemente Javierre Lopez and the former engineer at Guanica Centrale and representative of the Newhall Engineering Co. of Philadelphia David L. Thompson.  Structures and lands of Hacienda San José, which at the time were substantially not in use, were the basis for the new venture.  Mateo Fajardo Cardona  operated Eureka until his death, during his time at the helm Central Eureka flourished as a very productive sugar mill. 

Mateo Fajardo Cardona married twice, his first marriage to Emilia Davila Mercader (1869- ) with whom he had seven children and his second to Antonia Cabassa Texidor with whom he had one son.  Shortly after his death, in 1937 the principal stockholders of Central Eureka, Inc. were Gabriel Soler, Jaime Anexy, his widow Antonia Cabassa, their son Teodoro (Teddy) Fajardo Cabassa, his son Carlos Fajardo Davila, his daughter Lydia Fajardo Davila and the estate of two of his deceased sons Sucn. Mateo Fajardo Davila and Sucn. Jose A. Fajardo Davila.
 His estate, known as the Sucn. Mateo Fajardo Cardona, was involved in a lengthy legal battle because heirs of his wife Antonia Cabassa Texidor, claimed she inapropriately acquired lands from the estate of her late husband Diego Garcia Saint Laurent and contributed them to Central Eureka, Inc., thus depriving them from their participation in the totality of Garcia Saint Laurent’s estate.  By reading the transcript of the Appeal to the United States 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, an understanding of this legal battle can be obtained.
 Before it was acquired by the Government in 1977 and shut down, Miguel Angel Garcia Mendez who also had ownership in Central Igualdad, became a majoroty investor in Eureka.  This sugar mill is located in a large valley suitable for sugarcane growing blessed with plenty of rainfall beneficial for high yielding sugarcane.[ref]”Central Eureka.” jaimemontilla.com. Accessed 8/29/21[/ref]