Parque San Martín is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Merlo Partido Merlo is a '' partido'' of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, west of the city of Buenos Aires. Its capital is the city of Merlo. The region of the present-day partido was colonized shortly after ...

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. Parque San Martín was founded around 1948 by real estate promoters, in the estates belonging to the Etcheverry family. Like many others places in Argentina, the city was named after the Argentine independence hero General

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...

. The city status was conferred by the provincial legislature of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

on 17 November 1975, in the administration of Francisco Tomeo, last

Radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

''Intendente'' (

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

) of

. Parque San Martín is bordered by the cities of Merlo (north and west), Libertad (east) and

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

and Mariano Acosta (south).

History

The present-day territory of Parque San Martín was

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

until the 1950s. In the 17th and 18th centuries the land was part of a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Estancia An estancia or estância is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias are located in the southern South American grasslands of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia, while the ''pampas'' have historically bee ...

and after the suppression of the Order it was confiscated as

public land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Commonwealth realms). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. ...

. The land was leased to different private investors and by the mid 19th century it was bought by John Wyatt Smith who established one of the finest farms in Buenos Aires. By the turn of the century the estancia was sold to Roberto Cano who built a petit French-like mansion in his estate, still stood as a neighborhood landmark. The building is known as ''Palacio Cano'' (Cano House) as well as the ''Casco de Estancia de los Etcheverry'' (the Etcheverry Family Ranch House) after the last owners of the estancia.

Demographics

According to the , the population was 89,073 people, and although the 2001 census results are not available, it could be around 100,000. The majority of the population belong to the lower middle and working classes and the district suffers from high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Sports

The city is the home of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club entitled

Deportivo Merlo Club Social y Deportivo Merlo (usually known simply as Deportivo Merlo) is an Argentinean football club located in Merlo, Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in Primera B Metropolitana, the third division of the Argentine football league system ...

History

Demographics

Sports

See also