González Catán is a city located in
La Matanza Partido
La Matanza ('The Slaughter' in Spanish) is a '' partido'' (county or department) located in the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
This provincial subdivision had 1,775,272 inhabitants (at the 2010 Cen ...
,
Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is the second-largest by area in the county (52 km²), and the second most-populous. The city is located near the southwestern end of the
Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, from Buenos Aires along
Route 3.
Overview
The settlement is the oldest one in La Matanza County, and was founded in 1570 as a garrison by a
Conquistador, Captain
Juan de Garay
Juan de Garay (1528–1583) was a Spanish conquistador.
Garay's birthplace is disputed. Some say it was in the city of Junta de Villalba de Losa in Castile, while others argue he was born in the area of Orduña (Basque Country). There's n ...
. The modern settlement originated with the 1869 sale of the land by Germán Carrizo to Dr. Mauricio González Catán, a prominent surgeon and provincial legislator. He set aside the land for recreational purposes, christening it the ''Finca San Mauricio'', in honor of his
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
. He and his wife, Juana del Carmen Palacios, set aside a parcel for the establishment of the Colegio San Mauricio in 1879, and he died in 1895.
Home to a dairy, an orchard and numerous other agricultural businesses, the town was established on April 3, 1910, by Dr. Enrique Simón Pérez, a dentist and brother-in-law of González Catán. Writer
Martiniano Leguizamón had ''La Morita'', his home, built nearby at the time, and the opening of a
Ferrocarril Compañía General en la Provincia de Buenos Aires
Futbol Club Sonsonate is a Salvadoran professional football club based in Sonsonate, El Salvador.
The club plays its home games at Estadio Anna Mercedes Campos, a stadium located in the City suburb of Sonsonate, Sonsonate, since 2009. The team ...
station promoted the town's growth. The growth in manufacturing establishments in the county from 140 to over 1,600 between 1935 and 1954 led to an influx of migrants from the hinterland, and González Catán grew to become the second-largest city on the county. It social problems increased as well, however, and the city was the site of Father
Mario Pantaleo's chapel and day care center from the 1970s onwards. The Provincial Legislature declared it a city on September 19, 1974. The city's socioeconomic difficulties were dramatized in a 2004 film, ''
Buena Vida Delivery''.
CEAMSE operates one of the nation's largest
landfills in González Catán. Opened in 1977, this facility receives waste from the City of Buenos Aires and 14 Greater Buenos Aires municipalities, and has become a source of health problems for local residents; the construction of
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
and
waste-to-energy
Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Mo ...
plants was approved by the county in 2010.
González Catán is also known for the Campanópolis theme park. Begun by local businessman Antonio Campana in 1976, Campanópolis was built on a former dump site in a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style reminiscent of a
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...
film set and occupies east of Route 3.
Landmarks
File:Escuela Manuel Belgrano en González Catán.jpg, Manuel Belgrano School
File:Ruta 3 en González Catán hacia el sur.jpg, Intersection along Route 3
File:Campanópolis desde calle José Ballivián.jpg, Campanópolis
References
External links
González Catán website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Catan
La Matanza Partido
Populated places in Buenos Aires Province
Populated places established in 1910
Cities in Argentina