Last modified: 2022-11-05 by rob raeside
Keywords: canuelas | partido de cañuelas |
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![[Flag of Cañuelas]](../images/a/ar-b-cl.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 22 Jan 2014
The District of Cañuelas (45,575 inhabitants, 120.000 ha) is located northwest of the Buenos Aires Province, 60 km from Buenos Aires City. The district is made of the town of Cañuelas and of the villages of Uribelarrea, Udaondo, Vicente Casares, Máximo Paz and Alejandro Petión.
Cañuelas was originally known as Pago del Carmen de las Cañuelas, one of the sections established in 1784 by the colonial power; according to the historian Ricardo Levene, "pagos" were not administrative districts but wide areas with fuzzy limits each designed around a zone of more or less compact rural settlement. The "pagos" were usually formed along rivers, which were of significance for cattle breeding.
The town is named "Cañuelas" for the "cañas" (reeds) commonly found in the area by the Spanish colonists.
The Pact of Cañuelas was signed on 24 January 1829 in the Caledonia Ranch (Estancia La Caledonia) between the centralist General Juan Galo Lavalle (1797-1841) and federalist Field Commandant General Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877). It is considered as one of the most important treaties in the history of Buenos Aires, also mentioned in the preamble of the National Constitution. A local legend says that the popular beverage known as "dulce de leche" (stewed milk) was invented that day by a servant who abandoned a "lechada" (sugar with milk) preparation on the fire to alert the guard of the arrival of Lavalle.
Uribelarrea, locally known as Uribe, was established 20 km south of Cañuelas in 1889 by Miguel Nemesio de Uribelarrea (1833-1905), who was President of the Municipality of Buenos Aires and, subsequently, judge in Cañuelas. Uribelarrea offered plots inherited from his mother to found an agricultural colony, whose plan was drafted in 1888 by the land surveyor Federico Bazzano, from La Plata, and amended by the engineer Pedro Bonoit (1836-1897), the designer of the town of La Plata. The village central square is one of the few octagonal squares in Argentina.
In the 1930-1940s, Uribelarrea was a main dairy center, with more than 100 dairies and cheese dairies shipping their products to the town of Buenos Aires via the "South" railway.
Udaondo, located 30 km from Cañuelas, was founded on 18 September 1911 near a railway station that was closed in the late 1960s. Ir is the site of the Guardia del Juncal, now a reserve of fauna and flora and once part of the border line established in 1771 watched by a cavalry regiment.
Vicente Casares is named for Vicente Lorenzo del Rosario Casares (1844-1910), the founder of the San Martín Ranch, which was
proclaimed an historical national monument by Decree No. 262 of 20 March 1997.
Casares and his father founded in 1862 the ranch that produced in 1871 the first wheat harvest exported from Argentina. Cheese
production, initiated by Casares in 1886, failed because of the lack of adequate means of refrigeration. Not discouraged, Casares established in 1889 the first dairy industry in Argentina. The La Martona model factory, located in front of the railway station, proceeded mil collected from 52 dairies scattered over the 7,000 ha forming the San Martín Ranch. Safety and hygiene standards in the factory were at the time higher than in several European dairies; Casares introduced pasteurization and greaseproof paper instead of cloth to wrap butter,while preserving traditional production of "dulce de leche". Casares' company winded up in 1978.
Vicente Casares founded the Banco Sudamericano (1888) and the National Lottery (1893), and presided the Banco de la Nación Argentina (1891); elected Deputy at the National Chamber in 1900, he presided the Autonomist Party in 1908.
Máximo Paz was established in 1889 near a railway station inaugurated in 1885 and named for Máximo Paz, Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires (1887-1890). Mostly known for the bar "La Ruta", established in the late 1930s "as a place of hope" for the passengers of the Cañuelas express line No. 51.
Alejandro Petión was named for Alexandre Pétion (1770-1818), the hero of the independence of Haiti. A monolith recalls the bull Tarquinio, introduced in 1836 by John Miller in his aforementioned Caledonia Ranch to improve the Argentine bovine stocks.
Ivan Sache, 22 Jan 2014
The flag of Cañuelas is prescribed by Municipal Ordinance No. 2,386 of
28 December 2007, as follows:
![[Flag of Cañuelas]](../images/a/ar-b-clu.gif)
image located by Vanja
Poposki, 14 October 2022
Uribelarrea also has a flag, shown on the village's blog. The flag, designed by Andrea Figueira, is vertically divided green-white-green.
In the middle is placed a yellow sun with the lower half green and a black chapel superimposed. Beneath the emblem appears the name of the place in black capital letters forming an arch.
Ivan Sache, 22 Jan 2014