Merlo, Buenos Aires

Merlo is the head town of the homonymous partido of Merlo and seat of the municipal government, located in the Greater Buenos Aires urban area.

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 storyes in height.

The distant barrios lay at the Reconquista riverside and the greatest part of the population lives in poverty.

History

The origin of Merlo goes back to the town of Villa San Antonio del Camino, a hamlet clustered around a ranch-house belonged to the Spanish landlord Francisco Javier de Merlo and which had been founded as a result of the recurrent Araucanian raids throughout the eighteen century.

Francisco de Merlo

Francisco Javier de Merlo y Barbosa was born in Seville, Spain, on August 11, 1693 and died in Buenos Aires on April 4, 1758. Merlo arrives to Buenos Aires in the early 18th century and he integrated to the Buenos Aires upper class, made a fortune and served as notary public in the municipal government or Cabildo of Buenos Aires. He also was a laity member of the Third Order of Our 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 and they had a son.

In 1729 the notary public Francisco Sánchez Botija dies in Buenos Aires and his last will was his fortune were gave to his compatriot, friend and compadre Francisco de Merlo with the condition that a sanctuary were built to his memory and fifty masses were celebrated every year for the absolution of his soul.

With that fortune Merlo bought many haciendas in the western countryside and by the middle of the 18th century he established a large state between the upper Reconquista and upper Matanza rivers, seven leagues (35 km.) from Buenos Aires.

Merlo built his ranch-house on high ground overlooking the nearby Camino Real del Oeste, a road that linked Buenos Aires with Lima, the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. At its side Merlo erected a private oratory, fulfilling the last will of his compadre and it was consecrated to saint Anthony of Padua and the Immaculate Conception.

For many years the oratory served as parish church of the huge and almost unpopulated Parish 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 the mercedarian friars.

Views of Merlo

Church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Merlo Centro
Merlo Railway Station, Merlo Centro
Sullivan House, a residential house dated from the XIX century, Merlo Centro
Landaburu House, a residential house dated from the XIX century, Merlo Centro
Merlo Municipal Palace, Merlo Centro
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento school, public building dated from the XIX century, Merlo Centro