Colonia Lapin is a settlement located near the town of
Rivera
Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of aro ...
in the southwest region of the
Province of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
, Argentina, in the Municipality of
Adolfo Alsina
Adolfo Alsina Maza (January 4, 1829 – December 29, 1877) was an Argentine lawyer and Unitarian politician, who was one of the founders of the Autonomist Party and the National Autonomist Party.Ione S. Wright and Lisa M. Nekhom, ''Histori ...
.
History
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish immigrants founded Colonia Lapin on November 6, 1919. Colonia Lapin was originally settled by twenty five families from Colonia Esmeralda (Bernasconi) in the
Province of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
due to the unfavorable conditions, given the climate and the lack of drinking water. Mr. Eusebio Lapin, the Director of the
Jewish Colonization Association
The Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA or ICA, Yiddish ייִק"אַ), in America spelled Jewish Colonization Association, is an organisation created on September 11, 1891, by Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigratio ...
, brought about the colonization that had listened the sufferings of these colonists. He was able to acquire of land from
Baron Maurice de Hirsch of Estación Rivera to pass on to the colonists. In return, the families gave the Baron a share of the crops.
The colony was originally registered as Phillippson No 3, but its first settlers carried out the procedures to call it "Colonia Lapin", in recognition and gratitude to Eusebio Lapin.
In 1921 more families arrived and the colony began to have life. When the Colony was installed, no services or commerce existed. By 1921 significant
economic
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
,
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
, and
spiritual needs brought about different institutions such as a primary
school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
school,
synagogue, and an arts center/
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
/
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
.
While “Colonia Lapin” still remains, most of the residents have left and many of the farms have been consolidated. The theater still exists and a
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
has been erected in dedication to the founding families.
External links
History of Colonia Lapin
Populated places established in 1919
Populated places in Buenos Aires Province
Jewish Argentine settlements
Adolfo Alsina Partido
{{Jewish-hist-stub