Lago Colony was a community located on the east end of the island of

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

, near the area presently known as

Seroe Colorado Seroe Colorado () is a village situated at the southeastern tip of Aruba, an island located in the Dutch Caribbean. Nowadays, it is known for the Anchor in Memory to All Seamen. Historically, between 1878 and 1914, Seroe Colorado served as the loca ...

. The town consisted of 377 homes, a hospital, church, club house,

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, and an American School, with first through twelfth grades and approximately 180 students. The population of Lago Colony was primarily from the United States, although there was a large population from England, Ireland, and Scotland who were primarily officers on the

lake tanker Lake tankers were small (up to 5,000 ton) specially designed shallow-draft tanker ships that carried the crude oil, pumped from beneath Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, to the three off-shore refineries located on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Cur ...

fleet. In addition there were Dutch, Danish, Spanish and other nationalities represented in the community. This town was supported by a large

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

in the world, which at that time was owned by a subsidiary of

Standard Oil of New Jersey Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

, known as

Lago Oil and Transport Company Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd. was established in 1924 as a shipping company responsible for transporting crude oil from Lake Maracaibo to its transshipment facility on the island of Aruba. The Lago refinery, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Compan ...

. Lago had its beginning in 1924 as a trans-shipping facility for crude oil extracted by the Lago Petroleum Corporation operating in

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

. The crude oil was transported to Aruba in flat bottom, shallow draft, tanker ships, known as lake tankers. This trans-shipping of the crude oil continued until 1928 when a

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

was built and the

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n crude oil was then refined on the island and shipped all over the world as finished

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

products.

In the 1950s, the Aruba Esso Club was built at Baby Beach man made lagoon. The club included a restaurant, dance floor, and a baseball stadium. In the lagoon, there was a dock and small shacks (one of which is still standing). The refinery operated until 1985 when it was shut down. The refinery, now owned by

Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based Petroleum industry, fuels producer mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels and other petrochemical, related products. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United ...

, was later purchased, reopened, then shut down again; in December 2010, Valero announced that the refinery was reopening. , only a few houses of the former Lago Colony remain. Those that remain have been handed over to the Aruban Government or sold to individuals. Today, the Esso Club is only one large, abandoned building with one business, a dive shop, still in operation.

References

External links

Lago Colony and Lago Refinery
*{{commons category-inline 2010s disestablishments in Aruba Populated places in Aruba San Nicolaas Company towns

See also

References

External links