Initially the railroad was a part of the American Hershey Corporation chocolate empire's subsidiary property in Cuba.  The Hershey Sugar Mill and the corporate town of Hershey (according to a Cuban tradition, collectively referred to as the Hershey Central) were conceived and newly built by Milton Hershey in 1916 to 1918.  Hershey Central became a centerpiece of Hershey Corporation's Cuban holdings, but the company's property included bast sugar cane fields and a number of newly acquired sugar processing mills dispursed over towns in the vast valley to the East of Havana.   A new railroad network was built in order to connect various propertied of the company, as well as to provide access to the seaports in Havana and Matanzas.  

THESE ORIGINAL BILLS OF LADING WERE ISSUED BETWEEN JULY 1925 AND JUNE OF 1929.  They show the product, (bags of sugar) in bond, being shipped by boat from the port of Havana to the Jacksonville, Florida terminal of the Florida East Coast Railroad, then by Southern Railroad to Washington c/o the Baltimore & Ohio RR.   All of these bills are in dual language, both Spanish and English, with the RR stamp of Hershey, the Cuban tax stamp and the date received on the reverse.   

These BOLs were hand signed by the Local Agent and then transmitted with the shipment to Jacksonville, FL were they were received.

 

These original BOLs were located in Jacksonville, FL years ago.  

For more information and background on the Hershey Sugar holdings see  the article from the Milton Hershey School Article: Built on Sugar Foreign Holdings

The price stipulated is for ONE (1) BoL dates of our choice.   Furnished with an archival sheet protector.