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Orphaned at 15, without financial resources and illiterate, Delmiro Gouveia He began his professional life as a tram conductor in Recife. Decades later, he became one of the most influential businessmen in the Northeast, gaining international recognition by exporting leather to several countries and becoming known as the “King of Furs”.
Of humble origins, the industrialist faced political elites and foreign interests before being assassinated in 1917; crime was never clarified/Photo: Reproduction
At the end of the 19th century, Delmiro innovated by building the first shopping center in Brazil, a large shopping center that brought together a theater, casino and cinema, anticipating urban models that would only become popular decades later. Economic growth, however, began to bother sectors of the political elite at the time, including a vice-president of the Republic and a sugar baron, who began a direct persecution of the industrialist.
The conflict escalated when Delmiro physically confronted the politician in the Rio de Janeiro. In retaliation, in 1900, the businessman’s commercial complex was set on fire in a criminal manner, an action attributed to the police. The episode resulted in the total loss of the enterprise and marked a dramatic turning point in its trajectory.
Refugee in the backlands of AlagoasDelmiro Gouveia once again surprised the country by building, in 1914, the first hydroelectric plant in the Northeast and founding a sewing thread factory that began to compete directly with the British company Current Lines. Even in the face of foreign pressure, he refused purchase proposals and declared that he intended to acquire the English competitor himself.
On October 10, 1917, the businessman was murdered with three rifle shots fired in time with the factory whistle. The crime was never solved. Years later, the industry was acquired by English groups and completely dismantled, with machines launched in São Francisco Riverending one of the most emblematic chapters in Brazilian industrial history.
