San Vicente is a town and administrative centre of San Vicente Partido, in the
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
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 ...
, Argentina. The southernmost town in 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
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
, San Vicente is from downtown Buenos Aires, and can be accessed from Constitución Station by bus via Line 79 or a 20-minute drive by Provincial Route 58 from Ezeiza International Airport. The city has about 21,000 inhabitants per the .
History
Named in honor of the 14th century Dominican friar Saint
Vincent Ferrer
Vincent Ferrer, Dominican Order, OP ( ; ; ; ; ; ; 23 January 1350 – 5 April 1419) was a Kingdom of Valencia, Valencian Dominican Order, Dominican friar who gained acclaim as a preacher, missionary and logician. After supporting Antipope Benedic ...
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
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 ...
es and was initially known as ''Laguna de la Reducción''. Luis Pessoa y Figueroa, a landowner from Magdalena and member of the
Buenos Aires Cabildo
The Cabildo of Buenos Aires () is the public building in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, that was used as a seat of the town council during the colonial era and the government house of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
The building w ...
, bought much of the land south of the San Vicente Lagoon (then known as ''Laguna del Ojo'') in 1696, and his son, Juan Bautista Pessoa, established a small settlement in 1734. A fort, ''Fortín El Zajón'', was built here by the Blandengues cavalry corps in 1750. Luis Pessoa's grandson, Friar Vicente Pessoa, established the area's first Catholic
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
in 1781 and on 30 December 1784, the county of Magdalena was formally divided into among two other towns, San Vicente.
The village was made a county seat by the establishment of one of the province's first Justice of the Peace courts in 1822. Governor Juan José Viamonte founded the area's first large estancia, ''La Martiniana'', in 1824, and the subsequent establishment of numerous English Argentine settlers made San Vicente the provincial capital of
sheep farming
Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin ...
by 1854, with over 558,000 head. Recurrent flooding from surrounding swampland led provincial authorities to propose relocating the town. Local residents rejected the proposal, however, and on 27 January 1856, the Municipality of San Vicente was formally established.
The town grew slowly but steadily, and in 1896 a
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
service was inaugurated. This era of growth was interrupted by
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the coinciding collapse of the
wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
market; but the inaugural in 1928 of a
Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway
The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) () was one of the ''Big Four'' Indian gauge, broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the f ...
rail link to Buenos Aires brought renewed growth to San Vicente. The Ramón Carrillo Hospital, the town's first, was inaugurated in 1949. The local rail station was closed amid budget cuts in 1978. San Vicente is also slated to house the National Cattle Ranchers' Market, although the 2001 Buenos Aires municipal ordinance mandating its relocation from the
Mataderos
Mataderos (Spanish for "slaughterhouses") is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the three ''barrios'' that make up the Comuna 9, alongside Liniers and Parque Avellaneda. Located in the south-west end of the cit ...
borough to San Vicente has been repeatedly postponed due to cattle vendor objections to the cost of relocation.
San Vicente became a
bedroom community
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
in later decades of the 20th century, and numerous well-known figures in Argentine sports, history, and culture have resided there. These included Emilie Schindler; writer
Rodolfo Walsh
Rodolfo Jorge Walsh (January 9, 1927 – March 25, 1977) was an Argentine writer and journalist of Irish descent, considered the founder of investigative journalism in Argentina. He is most famous for his '' Open Letter from a Writer to the Milit ...
; comics artist
Dante Quinterno
Dante Quinterno (Buenos Aires, October 26, 1909Buenos Aires, May 14, 2003) was an Argentine comics artist, agricultural producer, and prolific editorial businessman, famous for being the creator of the Patoruzú, Isidoro Cañones and Patoruzito c ...
; former
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...
, who purchased a weekend home in San Vicente in 1947. This is today the site of the 17 de Octubre Museum, to which Juan Perón's remains were relocated from
La Chacarita Cemetery
The La Chacarita Cemetery (, also known as "Cementerio del Oeste") is a cemetery located in the Chacarita neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Occupying an area of 95 hectare, it is the largest in the country.Web San Vicente