The History of El Molinar

Are you interested in the history of El Molinar? The oldest references date back to the 16th century!

Would you have thought so? Es Portixol was, back then, a district of El Molinar! The others were called: Can Pere Antoni, Ses Figueres Baixes, El Segundo Molinar and Es Rotlet.

The name of this district, El Molinar, comes from the mills, of which there were up to 28. The first written records of these mills date from the 17th century.

The oldest neighborhood in Molinar is El Portixol, which is already mentioned in writings from 1639; in those years, El Portixol was market gardens in front of the beach, where vegetables and grain were grown, supplementing the diet of the first residents of the neighborhood, especially fishermen.

El Molinar is a neighborhood with a great seafaring tradition that continues to this day, but we must also remember its industrial past. On February 4, 1859, Mallorca’s first gasworks was inaugurated in the area of Can Pere Antoni; 20 years later, Pere Salas founded the Sa Petrolera oil refinery in El Portixol, and in 1903 the Ahlemeyer company inaugurated the first power plant in the area of Can Pere Antoni. Palma’s electricity company (Compañía de Electricidad, S.A.) merged with the Ahlemeyer company and continued energy production.

In 1918, the Compañía Mallorquina de Electricidad opened the second power plant near Es Portixol, and in 1921 the third power plant was inaugurated between the gasworks and the first power plant.

Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, leather tanning, the most important industrial activity in the region, gradually gave way to more advanced industries such as oil refineries, power plants, soap factories, as well as the production of oils, locust bean gum, paper and cardboard, and perfumes.

The improvement of economic and living conditions through the industrialization of the area encouraged residents to come together in associations such as the Club Marítimo del Molinar de Levante in 1917 and the Club Nautic Portixol in 1928, both of which are still active today.

On August 14, 1920, the tram was inaugurated, connecting Palma with El Molinar, giving the region’s economy an additional boost.

In the first decades of the 20th century, the tram was the most important means of transport in Palma. Various lines connected the center of Palma with the districts of Porto Pi, Establiments, El Molinar and Can Pastilla.

With the improvement of economic conditions, a new social class emerged that valued El Molinar primarily as a local recreation area and came from Palma to spend weekends in the popular neighborhood.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, El Molinar has been a neighborhood especially appreciated by Palma’s residents for their leisure time. Its location close to Palma, its welcoming atmosphere and, above all, the light of its sunsets also enchanted, in the middle of the 20th century as tourism developed, all those who strolled through its streets or along its beach. This appeal has also spread to foreign visitors, leading to a mix of cultures that can be seen and smelled in the restaurants and bars.

If you look at the center of the photo, you can see the Oratorium de la Mare de Déu del Remei from 1885. From 1890, this oratory became a rectory of the Santa Eulalia parish in Palma. When the new church was opened in 1928, the building in Portixol was left abandoned for a long time, until in the 1960s the bishop sold the property. Since then it has been a private house, of which only the round window on the façade recalls the former building. Those of you who are fans will know it—the façade is painted red today.

Just a few houses further on, by the way, we have our office. Do come and visit us and enjoy the special atmosphere of this dreamlike bay!

I would like to thank the colleagues at Fotos Antiguas de Mallorca for kindly providing the photos for this publication.

Álvaro Martínez Álvarez

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