Pichincha is a barrio

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

(small district or neighbourhood) in the city of Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

, . It is located on the north-east part of the central area of the city, and its limits are Ovidio Lagos Avenue (former La Plata Avenue), Francia Avenue (former Timbúes Boulevard), Rivadavia Avenue, and Salta St.

The assembling of this barrio was motivated by the growth of the railway

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 lines and the activity at the port

Port of Rosario

The Port of Rosario is an inland port and a major goods-shipping center of Argentina, located in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, on the right-hand shore of the Paraná River, about 550 km upstream from the Atlantic Ocean.-Overview:...

 due to agricultural export

Export

The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

s, in the 19th century. The most important point in the neighbourhood was the Sunchales train station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 (now Rosario Norte), which marked the border between the populated urbanization and the developing suburbia. The station was also a tramway

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 terminal.

The main street in the barrio was Pichincha St., named after a battle in the Ecuadorian War of Independence

Ecuadorian War of Independence

The Ecuadorian War of Independence was fought from 1820 to 1822 between several South American armies and Spain over control of the lands of the Royal Audience of Quito, a Spanish colonial administrative jurisdiction from which would eventually emerge the modern Republic of Ecuador...

. This name was then changed to Ricchieri (after General Pablo Ricchieri

Pablo Ricchieri

Pablo Ricchieri was an Argentine Army officer and Minister of War during the second Administration of President Julio Roca.-Life and times:...

, a Minister of War of late 19th century). At the beginning of the 2000s, the municipal government revised history

Historical revisionism

In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...

 and rolled back the change, although the name Ricchieri still appears in most street signs as of 2006

2006 in Argentina

-January:* 3 January: Four years after defaulting on its external debt, Argentina pays its USD 9.57 billion debt with the International Monetary Fund....

.

Demographic

Demographics of Argentina

This article is about the demographic features of Argentina, including population density, ethnicity, economic status and other aspects of the population....

 growth of the city favoured the establishment of brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

s. Since many of them were illegal, the municipality tried to control and set up a specific zone for them. Pichincha then became a kind of red-light district

Red-light district

A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...

. In time, the Argentine railway system declined and the activity and attraction of the barrio diminished.

In the first years of the 21st century, Pichincha started to recover, based on initiatives of its neighbours supported by the government. Since then, the barrio features a culture centre and several high-profile bars and restaurants, which take advantage of the retro appeal of the neighbourhood. The old structures have been preserved or restored. The municipality has encouraged this trend further, for example by employing old-fashioned street lampposts instead of modern lighting along Rivadavia Avenue. Since 2002

2002 in Argentina

-January:* January 1: The Legislative Assembly gathers and chooses senator Eduardo Duhalde as interim president.* January 2: President Duhalde announces the end of the 1:1 peso-dollar fixed exchange rate after almost 11 years.-June:...

 the Culture Secretariat of Rosario has a seat in the former Rosario Norte station. Each Sunday, Rivadavia Avenue is cut to host a Retro Fair (Feria Retro "La Huella") where kiosks offer antiques and there are open-air tango

Tango music

Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...

 and theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 performances, open radio, puppet

Puppet

A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....

shows and others. The barrio also has a number of modern bars and discos.

External links

• Rosario Freak Photo gallery of Rosario and surroundings. Includes a dictionary of Rosarigasino, and other amusing notes.
• Barrio Pichincha Web site about this neighborhood