Villa General Mitre


Villa General Mitre is a neighborhood, or barrio, of Buenos Aires.
The ward has a land area of 2.2 square kilometers (0.9 mi²), and a population of 36,000. It was named after General Bartolomé Mitre, President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868.
Villa Mitre was developed on land originally purchased by Francisco Ruiz de Gaona during the late colonial era, and he lived there until his death in 1813; Gaona Avenue, located along the ward's southern border, was named in his honor. The land was later subdivided into smallholdings mainly devoted to alfalfa, horticulture, and brick kilns. It became home to a large Italian immigrant community during the late 19th century, and in 1901 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the future Cabrini Institute here (one of 67 around the world, and her first in South America).