Francisco Seeber (November 15, 1841 – December 13, 1913) was an Argentine military officer, businessman and
Mayor of Buenos Aires
This is a list of mayors and chiefs of government of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, since its federalization.
Its first Mayor ( es, Intendente, Intendant) was Torcuato de Alvear, who was appointed by President Julio Argentino Roc ...
.
Life and times
Francisco Seeber was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
to Sophia Taut and Magnus Seeber, both
German Argentine
German Argentines (german: Deutschargentinier, es, germano-argentinos) are Argentines of German ancestry as well as German citizens living in Argentina. They are descendants of Germans who immigrated to Argentina from Germany and elsewhere in ...
immigrants.
He completed his studies in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Germany, and returned in 1859. He joined the
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
, and fought in the
Battle of Cepeda (1859)
The Battle of Cepeda of 1859 took place on October 23 at Cañada de Cepeda, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The Argentine Confederation army, led by federalist Justo José de Urquiza defeated the State of Buenos Aires forces, led by unitaria ...
and as a Captain in the
Paraguayan War
The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlie ...
in 1865 and 1866. Upon his return, he joined the editorial board of ''La Libertad'', and was elected to the
Buenos Aires Province
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 t ...
Legislature. He married Fanny Agrelo in 1868, and they had nine children.
[
Seeber established a construction firm, Catalinas Warehouses and Pier Company, Ltd., in 1872.][Cutolo, Vicente. ''Nuevo Diccionario Biográfico Argentino''. Buenos Aires: Editorial Elche, 1968.] The firm obtained a municipal contract to construct the Catalina Docks (located along what later became the Catalinas Norte office park). Needing a large and steady supply of soil to level and grade the hitherto flood-prone site for the wharf, Seeber bought land in the then-desolate northwest end of the city with the intent of hauling soil to Catalinas for land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
. He recruited his workers mostly from Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.
Its capital is Paraná ...
; they established a neighborhood (Villa Urquiza
Villa Urquiza is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located between the barrios of Villa Pueyrredón, Belgrano, Villa Ortúzar, Coghlan, Saavedra and Agronomía. Its limits are the streets and avenues Constituyentes, ...
) there in 1887.
Seeber was named President of the Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway (BAWR) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires), inaugurated in the city of Buenos Aires on 29 August 1857, was the first railway built in Argentina and the start of the extensive rail network which was ...
in 1887. He commissioned the construction of the important rail link between Córdoba and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
. He invested in the city's first large-scale department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...
, '' Bon Marché'', and was appointed Mayor of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
on May 10, 1889, by President Miguel Juárez Celman
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
* Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
*São Miguel (disam ...
.[Rögind, William. ''Historia del Ferrocarril del Sud. 1861-1936''. Buenos Aires, 1937]
He continued his immediate predecessors' emphasis on public works, having 400 blocks of city streets paved, installing sanitation services in the impoverished La Boca
La Boca (; "the Mouth", probably of the Matanza River) is a neighborhood (''barrio'') of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. It retains a strong Italian flavour, many of its early settlers having originated in the city of Genoa.
Geography ...
district, establishing right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
ordinances for the city's growing traffic, and initiating the development of what later became Florida Street
Florida Street ( es, Calle Florida) is a popular shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913.
The pedestrian section as such starts at the intersection ...
(today Buenos Aires' best known pedestrianized street). He also approved plans for what, during the 1920s, became Diagonal Norte
In geometry, a diagonal is a line segment joining two vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, when those vertices are not on the same edge. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word ''diagonal'' derives from the ancient Greek δ� ...
Avenue as part of larger (never realized) design for a series of diagonal avenues downtown. Another plan approved during his tenure ultimately became Nueve de Julio Avenue
July 9 Avenue (Spanish: ''Avenida 9 de Julio'') is a major thoroughfare in the city centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.
The avenue runs around to the west of the Río de la Plata water ...
in the 1930s, and his administration also began or completed the creation or improvement of numerous city park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...
s and recreational and cultural sites, among them the Buenos Aires Zoo and the National Historical Museum.[
The ]Panic of 1890
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight react ...
led to Seeber's resignation on June 4, and on June 22, he traveled to Germany. He represented Argentina in the 1894 Universal Peace Congress in Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , where he was an early advocate for free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold eco ...
. Seeber returned that year and took part in a commission to organize the nation's far-flung territories in Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and ...
and the far north. Following an 1897 stay in Europe to study the organization of the Quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...
Corps, he toured South America for an appreciation of prevailing conditions, about which he wrote in his 1903 survey, ''Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Uruguay, Perú, Bolivia y Paraguay: estudios comparativos''. Seeber, who also wrote numerous articles on his military studies in Europe, was named head of the Quartermaster's Advisory Board in Argentina.[
Francisco Seeber retired in Buenos Aires, and died there in 1913 at age 72.][ He was interred in ]La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery ( es, Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, ...
.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seeber, Francisco
1841 births
1913 deaths
People from Buenos Aires
Argentine people of German descent
Argentine Army personnel
Argentine businesspeople
Mayors of Buenos Aires
Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery