Cooperatives
Original title: Cooperativas
Account of the consumer cooperative societies founded in Funchal from 1875 onwards to supply groceries to their members, of which only the infantry regiment no. 27 cooperative survived at the time of writing.
Of three cooperative societies established in Funchal many years ago to supply their members with grocery goods on favourable terms, only that of the 27th Infantry Regiment still exists at present. It was set up in January 1892, and its statutes are dated 30 September 1891. The other two disappeared long ago. The older of them, called the Sociedade Cooperativa de Consumo e Credito do Funchal, whose statutes were approved on 29 April 1875, bought an excellent building in Rua do Esmeraldo, opposite Rua de Cristóvão Colombo, where it opened a well-stocked grocery.
This grocery, which closed in 1880 because it brought the shareholders nothing but losses, reopened shortly afterwards under the management of two merchants. They ran it for 5 years, receiving half the profits of the business, and it finally passed to another merchant, who kept it until 1888 or 1889, when the grocery was closed as a result of the Society’s liquidation. As the shares of the Cooperativa de Consumo e Credito do Funchal had been bought cheaply by one of the shareholders, he became, without spending any large sum, the owner of the Society’s excellent building, which he managed to sell many years later for about 40 contos.
The other cooperative referred to above was established around 1893 and lasted only some two or three years. It opened a grocery in the former Rua do Capitão, but never owned a building of its own.
A fourth cooperative must also be mentioned, the Cooperativa Popular, whose statutes were approved on 6 March 1919 and which opened its premises on 8 April 1920.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 08-
The statutes of the Sociedade Cooperativa de Consumo e Crédito do Funchal were approved.
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The cooperative's grocery closed after causing losses, reopening soon after under two merchants.
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The cooperative's grocery was closed on the liquidation of the society.
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Statutes were dated for the cooperative of infantry regiment no. 27.
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The cooperative of infantry regiment no. 27 was installed in Funchal.
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A further cooperative was set up in Madeira, lasting only two or three years.
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The statutes of the Cooperativa Popular were approved.
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The Cooperativa Popular opened its establishments.
Place
Places mentioned · 04
- Funchal
City where the cooperative societies were established.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Rua de Cristóvão Colombo
Funchal. Street opposite which the cooperative's building stood.
Rua de Cristóvão Colombo is a short lane in Funchal opened on the site of the demolished house associated with Columbus. A cooperative's building stood opposite it.
- Rua do Capitão
Funchal. Former street where the short-lived 1893 cooperative kept its grocery.
Rua do Capitão is the former name of part of today's Rua dos Murças in Funchal, between the Avenida de João Gonçalves Zarco and the Largo da Sé. It was named after the captain-donatary, whose residence in the São Lourenço fortress it led to, and a short-lived cooperative of 1893 kept its grocery there.
- Rua do Esmeraldo
Funchal. Street where the Sociedade Cooperativa de Consumo e Crédito bought a building and opened its grocery.
Rua do Esmeraldo is a street in central Funchal, running from Rua da Alfândega to Rua do Comércio, named after João Esmeraldo, who had large residences there. Columbus is said to have lived there, and it held the last rented town hall, taken in 1862.