The regional demographic and economic development that occurred in Goicoechea resulted from the planting of coffee. It became the dominant product as of 1850, replacing the large tabacco plantations that had constituted the main source of income for the earliest population. The "golden bean" was introduced to Guadalupe in 1840 by José Manuel Núñez, who planted it and established the first processing site at his former wheat mill. Another important factor in regional development was the Camino de Carrillo (Road to Carrillo), located near the confluence of the Sucio and Honduras rivers. The need for this road was due to local coffee farmers' demands to deliver their beans to the Limón harbor on the Atlantic for exportation, thereby shortening the cargo journey to their main European markets. At first the thought was to build a train track from San José, the country's capital, to Limón, moving through Paso de La Palma. Later in 1881, when the road section had reached Carrillo, the national government proposed to discontinue construction to open a road instead from San José to Carrillo. The following year that new road was inaugurated, but was in use for very little time, given its high cost of maintenance and traffic on it becoming sparse, once a train track construction from San José to the Caribbean coast was completed in 1890.