Chaguanas – the sugar-estate town that grew into a borough
Chaguanas grew up around sugar: the town originated on an estate beside the Woodford Lodge refinery, and that industry drew the families whose descendants still shape it. Named after the Chaguanes, the Amerindian people who settled the area, it was already established by the time of the British conquest of Trinidad in 1797. The Trinidad Government Railway, and later the Princess Margaret Highway built during the Second World War, helped the town expand. It became a borough in 1990, having previously been part of Caroni County, and from the 1980s onwards grew rapidly as people came for its shopping and affordable housing. Today it is the country's largest municipality. Members are invited to share their own recollections here.