Merlo | |
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  Merlo Location inGreater Buenos Aires | |
| Coordinates:34°39′S58°43′W / 34.650°S 58.717°W /-34.650; -58.717 | |
| Country |  Argentina |
| Province |  Buenos Aires |
| Partido | Merlo |
| Founded | August 28, 1755 |
| Elevation | 16 m (52 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 244,168 |
| CPA Base | B 1722 |
| Area code | +54 220 |
Merlo is the head city of the eponymouspartido ofMerlo and seat of the municipal government, located in theGreater Buenos Aires urban area ofBuenos Aires Province, Argentina.
The city was founded by Francisco de Merlo in 1755 and rebuilt by Juan Dillon in 1859.
Merlo is divided in two distinctive regions:Merlo Centro, amiddle class district clustered around the train station; and theworking classbarrios, most of them along theReconquista River.
The administrative and commercial center is around the main avenue,Avenida del Libertador General San Martín. This tree-covered avenue stretches seven blocks from the railway station to the historic district and has few buildings reaching over two storeys in height.
Merlo is bordered byMoreno andPaso del Rey—both cities inMoreno Partido—and theReconquista River (northwest),San Antonio de Padua (north),Libertad andParque San Martín (east) andMariano Acosta (south).
The origin of Merlo goes back to the town ofVilla San Antonio del Camino, a hamlet clustered around a ranch-house belonged to the Spanish landlordFrancisco de Merlo and which had been founded as a result of the recurrentAraucanian raids throughout the 18th century.
Francisco Javier de Merlo y Barbosa was born inSeville,Spain, on August 11, 1693, and died inBuenos Aires on April 4, 1758. Merlo arrived in Buenos Aires in the early 18th century and made a fortune and became part of the Buenos Aires upper class; Merlo served asnotary public in the municipal government orcabildo of Buenos Aires. He also was alaity member of theThird Order ofOur Lady of Mercy. He married Francisca del Toro in 1713 and they had eleven children. After widowed he married María Teresa Gamiz de las Cuevas in 1748, with whom he had a son.
In 1729, the notary public Francisco Sánchez Botija died in Buenos Aires and hislast will was his fortune be given to his compatriot, friend andcompadre Francisco de Merlo with the condition that a sanctuary be built to his memory and fiftymasses celebrated every year for the absolution of his soul.
With that fortune Merlo bought manyhaciendas in the western countryside and by the middle of the 18th century he established a large estate between the upperReconquista and upperMatanza rivers, sevenleagues (35 km.) from Buenos Aires.
Merlo built his ranch-house on high ground overlooking the nearbyCamino Real del Oeste, a road that linked Buenos Aires withLima, the capital of theViceroyalty of Peru. At its side Merlo erected a privateoratory, fulfilling the last will of his compadre and it was consecrated to SaintAnthony of Padua and theImmaculate Conception. For many years the oratory served as parish church of the huge and almost unpopulatedParish of La Matanza.
He also established one of the first schools outside Buenos Aires in where the locals could learn to read and write; the school was entrusted to themercedarian friars.
In 1742, Francisco de Merlo petitioned kingPhilip V of Spain authorization to found a village on his estates and it was granted in 1755.
On August 28, 1755, Francisco de Merlo founds the town of Villa San Antonio del Camino, offering free land to anyone willing to settle in the new town.
Villa San Antonio del Camino was named after the before mentionedPortuguese saint and it started with 111 inhabitants grouped in 24 families.
Merlo died on April 4, 1758, and the land was divided between his heirs and sold to different private investors.
The town remained within the bounds of the estancia donated by Merlo to the Mercedarian Order. In 1776 the mercedarian friars build ahospice in order to take care of the poorer people of the rural area.
The town was isolated from the main transportation and communication routes when the nearby road Camino de los Gaona bypassed Merlo three kilometers north after the landlord Juan Marquez built a wooden bridge in his estates over the Reconquista River in 1773.Few years later the parish-seat was moved to the neighboring town of Morón which was already the district seat of the homonymousPartido of Morón, created in 1784.
By 1810, Merlo was an insignificant hamlet, forgotten in middle of thePampas and where thecriollos illegally traded with theIndians.
In 1857 the Argentine railway companyCamino de Hierro de Buenos Aires al Oeste opens the first steam locomotive public railway in Argentina and few years later the company was planning to extend the line westward toMoreno making land speculation a highly profitable activity. In order to reach Merlo the line would pass through theestancia belonged to Manuela Calderón de Pearson and which was managed by her son Juan Dillon, who saw the opportunity to make huge profits by selling out parts of the family's estate .
In 1859 Juan Dillon commissioned the famous architect and engineerPedro Benoit to design the layout of the new town, organizing it on a rectangular grid of streets and blocks. The town was enlarged and complemented by Benoit's designs for a town hall, avenue, train station, school and the Church of Our Lady of Mercy.
The train station was opened on August 11, 1859.
In the second half of the 20th century, Merlo experienced an important influx of immigrants from the provinces and the old town sprawled over the countryside and the farms were replaced by housing for residents with a lower range of incomes.
Merlo Centro is a middle class district clustered around the train station and comprehends the 1859 Juan Dillon's town.
The administrative and commercial center is around the main avenue,Avenida del Libertador General San Martín. This tree-covered avenue stretches seven blocks from the railway station to the historic district and has few buildings reaching over two storeys in height.
Nothing remains from Francisco de Merlo's town and hospice.
The oldest building still standing in Merlo is the railway station, opened in 1859 in land donated by Juan Dillon's mother, Manuela Calderón.
The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced (Our Lady of Mercy) was consecrated in 1864 and it was built in the same spot where the old Merlo's chapel stood. The building was also designed by Pedro Benoit —prominent neighbor of Merlo and recognized member of the Argentinefreemasonry— and built by the Spanish master builder Antonio Ayerbe.The first parish priest was the Irish catholic priestPatrick Joseph Dillon, Juan Dillon's first cousin. He was appointed as chaplain for the Irish community in Merlo and years later he was elected senator in the legislature of Buenos Aires and founder of the newspaperThe Southern Cross, which continues in print to this day.
Media related toMerlo, Buenos Aires at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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34°39′55″S58°43′39″W / 34.66528°S 58.72750°W /-34.66528; -58.72750
