Ciudad Madero, also known as ''Villa Eduardo Madero'', is a city 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 C ...
,
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...
, Argentina. It is located within the
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...
metropolitan area.
Populated originally by the
Querandí
The Querandí were one of the Het peoples, indigenous South Americans who lived in the Pampas area of Argentina; specifically, they were the eastern Didiuhet (Diuihet). The name Querandí was given by the Guaraní people, as they would consume ...
people, a portion of the land today occupied by the city was deed to Pedro Gutiérrez by Governor
Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra (10 September 1561 – 1634), commonly known as Hernandarias, was a soldier and politician of Spanish Criollo peoples, criollo ancestry. He was the first person born in the Americas to become a governor of a European c ...
in 1615. It was added to Martín José de Altolaguirre's extensive holdings (which would occupy most of northern La Matanza County) in 1775, and was in turn purchased by Francisco Ramos Mejía in 1808. Prior to Mrs. Ramos Mejía's death in 1860, she bequeathed the property among her four children, the second of whom (her daughter, Marta) married a family ally in their struggles against Governor
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (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 Confedera ...
,
Francisco Bernabé Madero
Francisco Bernabé Madero (October 14, 1816 – 1896) was an Argentine lawyer and politician. He served as Vice President of Argentina, and founded the town of Maipú, Buenos Aires, Maipú.
Life and times
Madero was born in Buenos Aires to Mar� ...
.
The Maderos lived in rural
Dolores Partido; they, however, retained the property in La Matanza as an investment, and leased parcels to
tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...
refiners. Following Madero's death in 1896, these lands were parceled out to other manufacturers, and by 1900, an informal settlement (''Villa Las Fabricas'', or, "Factory Town") had been built by the growing numbers of
immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
laborers at the site. The first school was built there in 1905, and the arrival of the
Buenos Aires Western Railway
The Buenos Aires Western Railway (BAWR; 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 that was devel ...
in 1908 prompted the creation of the first settlement formally established at the site: ''Villa Circunvalación''.
Villa Circunvalación was established by the sale of lots by ''La Franco Argentina'', a leading Buenos Aires developer which established other nearby towns, and in which the Madero and Ramos Mejía families were shareholders. The Circunvalación and Fabricas settlements became known as ''Villa Eduardo Madero'' when the local train station was renamed in 1913 in honor of the former landowner's nephew,
Eduardo Madero; Madero, who died in 1894, had developed what became known as
Puerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a Barrios and Communes of Buenos Aires, ''barrio'' of Buenos Aires in the Buenos Aires Central Business District, Central Business District. Occup ...
, the nation's first
maritime docks.
The city's economy became relatively diversified; its manufacturing base is built on a number of
tool and die maker
Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries.
Tool and die makers work primarily in toolroom environments—sometimes literally in one room but more often in an environment with flexible, ...
s, as well as
food processing
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...
plants.
External links
Municipio de La Matanza: Ciudad MaderoFacebook: Ciudad Madero*{{in lang, es, en}
Ciudad Madero History
La Matanza Partido
Populated places in Buenos Aires Province
Populated places established in 1908
1908 establishments in Argentina
Cities in Argentina