San Pedro, Buenos Aires

San Pedro is located in the industrial corridor between Buenos Aires and Rosario, and is readily accessible to both via National Highway 9, as well as by the Mitre Railway Line. Natural harbors along San Pedro's Paraná River shores contributed to its early development as a trading hub, and later to its industrial base, and the city is today home to an important port.

Among the service sector activities that stand out in San Pedro is tourism, since the city is a frequent weekend destination for visitors from Buenos Aires. San Pedro draws tourism with its well-preserved nineteenth century architecture, as well as from the surrounding natural beauty. A marina and numerous riverfront hotels have opened in recent decades, notably a Howard Johnson's, and San Pedro is a leading regional destination for water sports enthusiasts in Argentina.

San Pedro is known for its fruit production, being the main products oranges and peaches, in that order. Another typical product from San Pedro is the ensaïmada, a pastry of Mallorcan origin, and the city has been declared "National Capital of the Argentine Ensaimada."

The foundation of San Pedro can be traced to 1637, when a document signed by Pedro Esteban Dávila (Knight of the Order of Santiago, Governor and General Captain), established an outpost on the site, and with its current name. The land was deeded to Captain Juan Gutiérrez de Humanes in 1641 for his services to the Crown. San Pedro began as a settlement on August 26, 1748, when construction began on the Antigüo Convento Recoleto de Franciscanos, around which the original settlement developed. The parish of San Pedro was created in 1778, and on December 30, 1784, the Partido (County) was officially established.

The historic Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on the town's Paraná River shores on November 20, 1845. The city is home to a sizable Italian Argentine community, who established the local Sociedad Italiana de Unión y Benevolencia, a charitable organization, in 1873. San Pedro was officially designated as a city by the Provincial Legislature on July 25, 1907. A former Querandí settlement, a vestige of the area's original inhabitants, was unearthed nearby by archaeologists in 1965.[1] The nation's largest newsprint maker, Papel Prensa, established its principal facility in San Pedro in 1978.[2]

The city is home to an active trade by artisans; the host a weekly fair on the Parque Artistico, and a selection of their works can be seen in the Sueño del Tano Museum. Other local museums include the Museum of Paleontology, the Fernando García Curten Museum, and the Osvaldo "Pato" Morresi Museum; Morresi (1952 — 94) was a champion Turismo Carretera stock car racer.

San Pedro has six FM radio stations, cable television service, and the newspapers El Imparcial, El Diario de San Pedro, and the weekly La Opinión.

Nuestra Señora del Socorro, the city's main Catholic parish.

• Nuestra Señora del Socorro Church, 1872, in Italianate style.
• Municipal Palace, with its Regional Museum.
• Ramos Generales Dutra (general store); created in 1865, was declared by the City Council as a "Place of Local Historical Interest."
• The Rafael Obligado Popular Library, established in 1872 and housed in an Italianate building completed in 1921.
• The site of the 1845 Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.