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 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. 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 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, 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 Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

, 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 ...

. 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, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

. 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 Martiniano Leguizamón (1858 - 1935) was an Argentine lawyer and writer. Biography He was born in 1858 and spent his early years on his father's ranch of Gualeguay. He died in 1935. Education He started writing poetry and comedy at a y ...

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 i ...

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 José Mario Pantaleo (August 1, 1915 · August 19, 1992) was an Italian priest who lived most of his life in Argentina. He is known as Padre Mario. He was well known for the healings of thousands as well as for the construction of a foundation i ...

'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

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

s 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. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

and

waste-to-energy Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) refers to a series of processes designed to convert waste materials into usable forms of energy, typically electricity or heat. As a form of energy recovery, WtE plays a crucial role in both wa ...

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 style reminiscent of a

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

film set and occupies east of Route 3.

Gallery

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
La Matanza Partido Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Populated places established in 1910 Cities in Argentina {{buenosAiresAR-geo-stub