San Isidro (Buenos Aires)

San Isidro is an Argentine town, head of the Buenos Aires district of San Isidro, located in the Northern Zone of Greater Buenos Aires. It borders to the west with Boulogne Sur Mer, to the south with Acassuso and Martínez, to the north with Beccar and to the east with the Río de la Plata. Seat of the municipal government, the Deliberative Council of San Isidro and the cathedral, it is the historic center of the district and the second largest. This town is 8.2 km from its closest access to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

History

According to chroniclers who recognized these lands in the XVI century, what is today San Isidro represented the southern limit of the territory. occupied by the Guaraní. To the south was the territory of the Querandíes.

In 1580 it is; plots, country houses, farms and ranches along the entire northern coast of the city, starting in the vicinity of Plaza San Martín (Buenos Aires), including the current San Isidro and extending to the district of San Fernando. San Isidro was part of the Pago del Monte Grande (or de la Costa) that also included the district of Vicente López, the district of San Martín, and the neighborhood of Belgrano (Buenos Aires).

In 1706, Captain Domingo de Acassuso was authorized to transform the private chapel of his estate into a public temple that bore the name of San Isidro Labrador, in homage to the saint of his devotion, Patron of Madrid. From that point onwards At that time the neighboring fields were called “del Santo”.

In 1717, the First Commissioner for the region, Juan Benavídez, was appointed, in 1784 the Mayor of Brotherhood was created, only in 1779 was the first Mayor of Santa María appointed by the Buenos Aires Cabildo Brotherhood, Juan Francisco Zacarías de Arroyo with jurisdiction over the Pago de la Costa and in 1790 a town was built around the chapel that over time would become the city of San Isidro.

Site of farms that supplied the city, at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the XIX the summer farms and villas of the prominent citizens of Buenos Aires appeared, typical colonial houses with a central patio, cistern, roof terrace and gallery.

Four roads dotted with posts crossed its territory heading north: the Bajo (bordering the coast), the Fondo de la Legua, the Medio (which went to the Lomas de San Isidro) and the Alto.

During the first of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, after landing in Tigre (Buenos Aires), on August 5, 1806. Santiago de Liniers, commander of the forces that would reconquer the city of Buenos Aires a few days later, established his camp in San Isidro, staying on the fifth property of Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson, where he remained until August 9 when the weather allowed him to continue along the Fondo de la Legua road towards the capital, which he would reconquer on the 12th.

After the May Revolution it became a municipality and the last Mayor of the Brotherhood, Martín Campos, became its first justice of the peace.

By 1825 San Isidro was already an alternative cabotage port to that of Buenos Aires, used both for smuggling and for the supply of firewood and fruit to the city. It was the base from which the Eastern Thirty-Three departed at midnight on April 15 of that year. In the coastal area known as Puerto Sánchez, Colonel Juan Antonio Lavalleja and his companions embarked on a boat from the port of Barracas, starting the Liberation Crusade that would lead to the Argentine-Brazilian War and later in the creation of the Eastern State of the Uruguay.

It was also the arrival site of the Druid, the first steamship to reach the Río de la Plata.

In 1850 a law of the province of Buenos Aires created the Municipality of San Isidro and in 1856, the first municipal government served in the Alfaro house: the soap and candle manufacturer Fernando Alfaro Maciel was the first president of the municipality of San Isidro. It was formally declared a city in 1942.

Geography

A characteristic of San Isidro is the presence of a pronounced ravine that gives rise to the area known as El Bajo de San Isidro. Formerly the waters of the Río de la Plata reached the ravines.

Infrastructure

Currently the city has 291,608 inhabitants (according to the 2022 census). It has an outstanding public health system, whose most modern center is the San Isidro Central Hospital and numerous educational centers, many of them centuries old, such as the Instituto Carmen Arriola de Marín, Labardén, Nacional San Isidro, San Juan el Precursor, Saint Agnes, Mary Help of Christians, Our Lady of Unity, Saint Elizabeth, Saint Mary of Luján, among others.

At the head of the party is the Municipality and the Courts (with jurisdiction in the municipalities of the northern area of Greater Buenos Aires).

Two railway lines cross it: the San Isidro C Station of the Miter Railway and the San Isidro R Station of the Tren de la Costa.

Three avenues connect San Isidro with El Tigre to the north and with CABA to the south: Av. del Libertador, Av. Centenario and the Pan-American Highway.

Márquez Avenue crosses the city from east to west, while Centenario Avenue crosses the city from north to south. The latter turns out to be a road with a large amount of vehicular traffic and numerous bus lines that connect the city of San Isidro with the city of Buenos Aires. Among the different public transport lines, line 60 presents different routes that allow a wide connection with different urban centers.

Among the most recent public works, it is worth highlighting the construction of three tunnels for low-level passage of vehicular traffic.

Being on the river bank, nautical activity and its infrastructure also stand out, especially the private one, among others, is the C.N.S.I. acronyms that represent the San Isidro Nautical Club.

Historic old town

The historic center of the city is delimited by the General Bartolomé Miter Railway tracks, Primera Junta and Roque Sáenz Peña streets and the Río de la Plata. It includes the Cathedral, the Quinta Los Ombúes (Museum, Library and Municipal Historical Archive) and the Brigadier General Juan Martín de Pueyrredon Museum.

The core of that center is Miter Square, with a design similar to that of other squares in Buenos Aires. In the trees, the specimens of palm trees and tipas stand out, and it has fountains, sculptures and a "floral clock" (their numbers are hedges). Every weekend there is a crafts fair and sometimes public shows are presented.

In front of the square is the oldest block, where the headquarters of the municipal government, the Deliberative Council, the chalet Las Brisas (contemporary of the Cathedral), and the house of the first are located. municipal president Fernando Alfaro Maciel, today a museum.

Also adjacent to the square is the Cathedral of San Isidro, a 68-meter-high building in the neo-Gothic style, which was completed in 1898 and has been recently restored, and the San Juan el Precursor school. On the opposite side on Ituzaingó Street there are several old buildings such as the Paraje de las Almas, a private house that hosts art exhibitions and some restaurants, and perpendicular to them is Avenida del Libertador, along which the Liberator José de San Martín marched. with his armies to meet with Juan Martín de Pueyrredón. In the opposite direction is Juan Bautista de La Salle street where the San Isidro Station of the Tren de la Costa is located.

Since the arrival of the Posse family to the municipality, the historic center has suffered a marked deterioration with the demolition of old properties to make way for modern buildings, without style or harmony with the environment.

Gardens

The first settlers were the wealthiest citizens of the city of Buenos Aires, who from the end of the XVIII century until The beginning of the XIX transformed the area from a place of farms and orchards that supplied the city to summer and weekend villas. of characteristic colonial houses with a central patio, cistern, roof terrace, galleries and gardens that took over the typical ravines of the area to create various planned situations in the outdoor spaces.

The gardens of the San Isidro mansions have an evocative air of different eras, lemon and orange trees that allude to a first stage of construction and rose bushes and camellias, fashionable in the Bella Epoca. That contrast with espinillos and talas that are found in the ravines.

All the homes also share the feature of outdoor galleries that widen the homes, and generate transition spaces between the interior space and the large gardens.

But the most emblematic object of the area of the exterior spaces is the presence of the cisterns, which were used for the collection of drinking water and as decorative objects, so much so that they are still used as large objects in the houses.

The Bass

El Bajo de San Isidro, located between the coast of the Río de La Plata and the characteristic ravines of the area, is a neighborhood that has changed its profile in recent years. There is a great gastronomic movement, but also artistic and cultural, that began with a few places about 15 years ago and that is changing the appearance of the neighborhood.

Along the Tren de la Costa that runs through the Bajo there is a bike path also used by walkers and runners.

Museum, Library and Municipal Historical Archive «Dr. Horacio Beccar Varela»

The Historical Archive was created by the historian and researcher priest Francisco C. Actis, first director of the Municipal Historical Museum "Brigadier General Juan Martín de Pueyrredon", who since 1944 was in charge of gathering all the material that he considered of historical interest from different municipal agencies and the Civil Registry.

In the 70s the Historical and Traditional Museum of San Isidro operated briefly in the former house of the first municipal president Fernando Alfaro. On January 9, 1995, the "Museum, Library and Municipal Historical Archive of San Isidro" was created with headquarters in the same residence and one of the most important private historical libraries, consisting of 5,300 specialized works, was incorporated into its collection.

On May 16, 2006, the San Isidro Museum, Library and Historical Archive were moved to the Los Ombúes farm, on 774 Adrián Beccar Varela Street, above the Río de la Plata ravines.. The new headquarters, donated by Horacio Beccar Varela, had been built in the viceregal period, it was owned by Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson, witness at that time to the passage of figures of historical significance, among them José de San Martín, Juan Martín de Pueyrredón and Manuel Belgrano and declared a National Historical Monument on October 2, 2007.

The San Isidro racecourse

On Márquez Avenue the racecourse is located, occupying an area of almost 300 hectares. This emblematic site of the city attracts a large number of people, especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays when the races are held. However, the space is also used sporadically for concerts, recitals and exhibitions.

Parishes of the Catholic Church in San Isidro

Twinning cities

• Nagasaki, Japan
• Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Local media

There are many media outlets that cover the district and its neighborhoods, including Para Todos: www.periodicoparatodos.com.ar; Infobán: www.infoban.com.ar; Que Pasa Web: www.quepasaweb.com.ar.