Patricio Peralta Ramos
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Patricio Peralta Ramos (May 17, 1814April 25, 1887) was an Argentine businessman and landowner prominent in the foundation of the seaside city of
Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
.


Life and times

Patricio Peralta Ramos was born in the San Nicolás, a
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 ...
neighbourhood, in 1814. His father, José de Peralta, was a high-ranking official of the Patricios Regiment. In 1860, he married a distant relative, Cecilia Ramos, with whom he had twelve children. Peralta Ramos became a large clothing supplier to 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- ...
during the 1829-52 regime of Governor
Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Althoug ...
, of whom Peralta Ramos became an official supporter in 1842. A wealthy man by the time of Rosas' overthrow at the 1852
Battle of Caseros The Battle of Caseros ( es, Batalla de Caseros) was fought near the town of El Palomar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 3 February 1852, between the Army of Buenos Aires commanded by Juan Manuel de Rosas and the Grand Army (''Ejército ...
, he traveled in 1860 to the Atlantic Ocean shore, where he purchased over 136,000 hectares (340,000 acres) from
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Consul and entrepreneur José Coelho de Meyrelles, and a meat salting house. His
beef jerky Jerky is lean trimmed meat cut into strips and dried (dehydrated) to prevent spoilage. Normally, this drying includes the addition of salt to prevent bacteria growth before the meat has finished the dehydrating process. The word "jerky" derive ...
facility struggling, Peralta Ramos embarked on the initial real estate development of his vast, scenic land. His enterprise met with the resistance of the gentry of Balcarce (then the county seat), though in 1865, he obtained a favorable ruling for the shoreline development from the local
Justice of Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
, Juan Peña. Seizing on a discrepancy between Peralta Ramos' holdings and what appeared in the official appraisal, Balcarce founder and Mayor José Chaves nearly forced his adversary to relocate his planned development on
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, but an 1867 letter in Peralta Ramos' support by neighboring
Mar Chiquita Mar Chiquita is a coastal lagoon in the southeast province of Buenos Aires in eastern Argentina. It is located by the Atlantic coast, 30 km north of Mar del Plata. The area is a natural reserve where a number of animal species live around ...
Judge José Bernal to
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 th ...
official
Nicolás Avellaneda Nicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva (3 October 1837 – 24 November 1885) was an Argentine politician and journalist, and President of Argentina from 1874 to 1880. Avellaneda's main projects while in office were banking and education ...
settled the dispute in Peralta Ramos' favor. Advertising the development as ''Puerto de la Laguna de los Padres,'' the sale of allotments was successful, and in 1873, Peralta Ramos petitioned the province for the seaside hamlet's incorporation, which was granted by Governor Mariano Acosta on February 10, 1874, as ''Puerto Balcarce''. As this nomenclature was assigned over his objections, Peralta Ramos unofficially christened the community ''Mar del Plata'' (in the sense of "Sea of the River Plate region"). The accomplishment was clouded, however, by the death of his wife, Cecilia, in honor of whom Peralta Ramos personally designed and built the
Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia ( la, Sancta Caecilia), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman virgin martyr and is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She b ...
Chapel; the structure, poignantly, was built by the mourning widower from wooden planks salvaged from a recent wreckage. Boasting seaside appeal, an iron
pier image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
and made self-sufficient by the salting house, as well as by a flour mill, bakery, blacksmith and other establishments, the community prospered. In his later years, Peralta Ramos promoted the hunt of the area's then-vast herds of
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, which he termed "an inexhaustible source of wealth."''Centenario del natalicio del fundador de Mar del Plata Don Patricio Peralta Ramos.'' He died in Mar del Plata in 1887, and his remains were buried initially at Saint Cecilia chapel and some years later reburied at the
La Recoleta Cemetery La Recoleta Cemetery ( es, Cementerio de la Recoleta) is a cemetery located in the Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Recoleta Barrios and Communes of Buenos Aires, neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, includi ...
in Buenos Aires.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peralta Ramos, Patricio 1814 births 1887 deaths Argentine businesspeople Argentine people of Spanish descent People from Buenos Aires Mar del Plata Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery