Guácimo is the capital of Guácimo, Limón Province in Costa Rica. This rural town on the east coast of the country has many banana and pineapple plantations. The area is not much visited by tourists. Residents of Guácimo live a simple life, often urging others to remain tranquilo, or relaxed. Its name is taken from the fast-growing malva family tree, Guacimo, native to Central America. The town began with the construction of the railway built by West Indian employees of Minor Cooper Keith in the 1880s. Keith built the so-called "Old Line" from Siquirres west through Guácimo to Carrillo before it was decided that the track line, instead of continuing from Carrillo directly to San José, should be built from Siquirres through Turrialba and Cartago along the Reventazon River. The railroad bridge in Guácimo, built by the Baltimore Bridge Company in 1905, is the oldest still standing in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. Across the bridge, Guácimo's sister city of Africa was a bigger town than Guácimo until "colonists" began moving in from other parts of Costa Rica. For much of its history Guácimo was mainly made up of English-speaking West Indians. The town elementary school, Manuel María Gutiérrez, was originally an English school when established in 1914. EARTH University, is a private agricultural sciences university in Guácimo Longstanding English surnames in Guácimo include the Abrams, Anderson, Arboine, Bailey, Barnes, Berry, Blackwood, Budd, Burke, Burger, Byfield, Chambers, Channer, Clarke, Cook, Cowan, Crawford, Creed, Cyrus, Daily, Daniels, Davis, Douglas, Edwards, Fennell, Forbes, Gabriels, Gale, Gibson, Graham, Grant, Harris, Hemmings, Henry, Howard, Jones, Knowles, Leacock, Lee, Lovemore, McCarthy, McDonald, McFarlane, McGregor, Meyers, Myrie, Parchment, Peart, Philips, Porter, Poyser, Samuels, Slack, Stewart, Strackman, Taylor, Thomas, Valentine, Walcott, Watson, White, Williams, and Young families, as evidenced by the monthly active Linea Vieja local newspaper, current election registration sheets, and 20th-century Jamaican Gleaner articles.
