The Eagle Refinery was established by the Royal Dutch Shell in the 1920’s. It stood where now the low-rise hotels, the golf course and the hospital are located. The Eagle Refinery got its name being an affiliate of the Mexican Shell refinery. It was called El Aguila (The Eagle). Aruba, at the time under Dutch rule, knew the refinery by its Dutch name ‘Arend Petroleum Maatschappij’, Arend being Dutch for Eagle.

The Eagle concession stretched from the Eagle Colony, a compound between Oranjestad and the refinery, where the managers from abroad and their families lived, to Quinta del Carmen, a manor house where doctors and nurses lived. The refinery compound ran from the Main Office building to the main pier, next to the tank farm. The giant F-shaped main pier lay in the choppy waters at Punta Brabo (‘rough point’).

Crude oil from nearby Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela was processed here. Eagle and in particular Lago, the other refinery on the island were of great importance for supplying fuel for the planes of the allied forces in World War II.

The Eagle Refinery halted its operations in 1942 because the refinery could not produce the various types of aviation fuel required by the allied planes.

After the war, production was resumed but in the early 1950’s the demand diminished so operations were halted. That was in 1953.

The refinery became government property and it was dismantled, with the exception of the main office building. The main pier was taken apart in the early 1970’s, when the low-rise hotels were built on both sides of the site.

The Main Office building, constructed in 1929, is reminiscent of the tropical building style in the Dutch East Indies, with broad verandas and galleries. The two-story building is supported by 22 columns. The building itself and the adjacent former gatekeeper’s house were preserved when the refinery was dismantled.

Both have housed government departments, like the Aruba Tourism Bureau and the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association. The Department of Human Resources now occupies the former Main Office building.

The Eagle Main Office is the first stop in the Eagle History Audio Tour. To illustrate the past, the picture of the entire management staff (see above) is projected on the building after dark.

The name Eagle survives in Eagle Beach, the residential area (the former Eagle Colony), and in names of businesses and resorts.