estates at Bethlehem, Friedensburg and Jealousy and built a modern sugar factory at Lower Bethlehem, which used the vacuum pan process to refine the sugar. He sold Bethlehem to the Lachmann family in 1902 who built the Central Sugar Factory at Lower Bethlehem in 1903. It was connected by a narrow gauge steam railway to Bethlehem Middle Works and Friedensburg, which also belonged to the Lachmann family. In 1917, the United States bought the Danish Virgin Islands. The Lachmanns continued to manage the Bethlehem works, employing approximately 2,000 employees out of a total population of about 15,000, until they sold the factory to the federal government in 1930 as a consequence the Great Depression. Subsequently, the old factory was demolished and a new sugar mill was built to replace it, which operated until 1966. The land became the property of the Virgin Islands Government. Ruins of the Bethlehem Central Factory and many of the worker's residences are still standing, including the smokestack, which has become a prominent landmark of central St. Croix. Parts of the plantations were parceled off and sold for agricultural use, while others were used for building the new headquarters of the Virgin Islands Army National Guard. Literature References Populated places in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands