THE WEST INDIAN COMPANY LIMITED
AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS PAST, SECURE IN THE PRESENT AND PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
In 1912 a group of Danish businessmen, led by Mr. Hans. N. Andersen, acted on a grant by the Danish Crown to set up a business in St. Thomas, partly to support the island’s economy. They saw the viability with the opening of the Panama Canal that it would be a business for bunkering coal on a larger scale. The East Asiatic Company a joint-stock company was formed in December of 1912 and they called that venture The West Indian Company Limited.
The President and Department Heads were from Denmark. They were housed on the property known as Beltjens Road, Ross Estate which were part of The West Indian Company holdings. All of the buildings had names such as: Villa Epsilon, Villa Gama Delta, Villa Apha Beta, Villa Orient, Villa Marion & Villa Iota. Other properties, including, but not limited to the Vitraco area had a large building that housed the power plant. That building extended to the main road, east of Paul M. Pearson Gardens.