Florida is a neighborhood in

Vicente López Partido Vicente López is a partido in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is one of the country´s most affluent municipalities. Vicente López is located 20 kilometers north of downtown Buenos Aires and 80 kilome ...

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. The community is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

in the

Buenos Aires metropolitan area Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

. In 2020 the population was estimated at 48,158, making it the second most populated neighborhood in Vicente López Partido. It is 15 kilometers north of downtown Buenos Aires. Florida grew and prospered in the late 1800s when it became a railway stop; the community became progressively more urban and started to receive Italian and English immigrants who set small farms that provided vegetables and fruits to nearby Buenos Aires. Nowadays it is an

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

residential area serving as 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 ...

. It is bordered to the east by Vicente López neighborhood, to the north by Olivos, to the south by the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, and to the west by Villa Martelli.

Location

Florida is served by the

Mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

and Belgrano Norte railway lines, both providing fast access to the city of Buenos Aires. Its main commercial areas are Maipú Avenue and San Martín Avenue.

Transport

Florida train station in Buenos Aires Province

Florida is well-connected to the other northern suburbs of the

, and to downtown

, and especially to

Jorge Newbery Jorge Alejandro Newbery Malagarie (27 May 1875 – 1 March 1914) was an Argentine aviator, civil servant, engineer and scientist. Early and personal life His father, Ralph Lamartine Newbery Purcell (born 1848) was a dentist who emigrated from ...

airport. The neighborhood is connected to the rest of the city by two highways, one Metrobus line, 21 bus lines and four train stations (

Aristóbulo del Valle Aristóbulo del Valle (15 March 1845 – 29 January 1896) was a lawyer and politician born in Dolores, . He was, together with Leandro Alem, one of the founders of the Radical Civic Union. Del Valle studied in the Faculty of Law ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, Juan B. Justo and Cetrángolo).

History

Florida Este was founded in 1891 when the

Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway The Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway (BA&R) was a British-owned railway company that built and operated a broad gauge railway network in Argentina, where it was known as the "Ferrocarril Buenos Aires y Rosario". Originally thought as a line from B ...

opened a station in the section from Belgrano that then reached Bartolomé Mitre, Borges and San Isidro. Some versions state that the station (and subsequently the village) was named "Florida" to commemorate a victory over a Spanish army in the Paraje La Florida of

Alto Perú Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...

on May 25, 1814, during the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of ...

. The official date of establishment was set by a decree that gave approval to the builder of the railway line to divide the lands into lots for future sale. The date was set on May 7, 1891. Between 1895 and 1915 the "Compañía de los Ferrocarriles Pobladores" and the French Bank, owner of lands in the zone, sold them to families that soon arrived. The Florida Este station was a meeting-place for the inhabitants of the districts, with Luis Poggi's general store (located on the corner of San Martín and Fray Justo Sarmiento) as one of the pioneers in the zone. Most of the residential houses were grouped near the station, while the country hoses were in what is now Melo street. Small vegetable farms were established near Mitre Avenue. By Municipal Ordinance, Florida was declared a "village", in 1907. Six years later the bishop of

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, Juan Terrero, blessed a precarious chapel built on lands donated by José Antonio Trabucco. The Rossi family donated an image of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

sculpted in

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

in Italy. The first priest of the region was Father José A. Coffa, who was succeeded by Father Vanini, who started works for a construction of the church. The church, finished in 1931, was named "Nuestra Señora de la Guardia", and was the first church in Florida.

Education

In the area there are several educational institutions. According to Vicente Lopez Municipality information in 2017 there were: ;Kindergartens Kindergarten No. 3: Franklin 1785, West Florida. Kindergarten No. 5: Tuyutí 1119, West Florida.3 Kindergarten N ° 8: Santa Rosa 4148, Florida West. Kindergarten No. 10: Aristóbulo del Valle 2375, Florida. Kindergarten No. 13: Melo 1861, Florida. ;Primary Education Manuel Dorrego School, Posadas 1115 - Florida Oeste - Vicente López ;Municipal Training Centers "JORGE LLOBET", Santa Rosa 4146, Florida West Vicente López Community College (CUV) ;Private Schools The area had a German school, Rudolf-Steiner-Schule.Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672
().

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

(West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 17/51.

Sports

Florida Este is home to the

Club Atlético Platense Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Florida, Buenos Aires. The club nickname is (Squid) after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink". Although the club hosts many activities, Pla ...

, established in 1905, which hosts a wide range of sports. Their

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team plays in the

AFA Afa or AFA may refer to: Mythology and religion *Afa (mythology), in the Polynesian mythology of Samoa * Afá, a West African religion, also known as Ifá in some languages Governmental * Agence française anticorruption, the French Anti-Corrupti ...

. Platense's home ground is Estadio Ciudad de Vicente López. Another club in the neighborhood is Sportivo Balcarce, which played in Primera División in the 1920s.

Gallery

File:San Martin Avenue in Florida, Buenos Aires Province.jpg, San Martín Avenue File:Santa Teresita del Nino Jesus church.jpg, Parroquia Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús File:Plaza HE Gonzalez.jpg, Plaza Héctor González File:Florida train station in Buenos Aires Province.jpg, Florida train station File:Quinta Trabucco 004.jpg, Quinta Trabucco

References

External links

*
La Página de Florida
{{Greater Buenos Aires Vicente López Partido Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Populated places established in 1856 Cities in Argentina