Villa Ascasubi

Villa Ascasubi is a town and municipality in the Tercero Arriba Department of Córdoba Province, Argentina. It lies about 110 km from the provincial capital, Córdoba, 43 km from Oncativo, and 23 km from Río Tercero, on provincial route E79. The settlement traces its origins to the colonial Capilla de Rodríguez, a chapel and frontier outpost on the right bank of the Ctalamochita (Tercero) River. In 1889 the site was formally laid out and the chapel settlement was elevated to villa status, named in honour of the poet Hilario Ascasubi. The town was incorporated as a municipality in 1968, with its first intendente (mayor), the local historian José Alberto Suescun, serving from 1968 to 1987. The municipality provides local public services including water, waste collection, security coordination, culture, tourism, and social development. Its official website, villaascasubi.gob.ar, publishes municipal news, decrees, and service information. The town is known for its riverside balneario, cultural events, and the historic Puente Viejo bridge over the Ctalamochita, inaugurated in 1923.

The area around what is now Villa Ascasubi was originally a land grant and encomienda of indigenous people issued in 1585 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, founder of Córdoba, to one of his captains, Juan Francisco Rodríguez Juárez. The grant concentrated the native population, probably of Comechingón origin, around a modest oratory on the right bank of the Tercero or Ctalamochita River. This oratory was known from then until the late 19th century as the Capilla de Rodríguez. According to the historian Raymundo Chaulot, the dry customs house of Córdoba was created near these lands in 1628, at the Paso Coronado de Pampayasta on the Tercero River; it taxed goods introduced from Buenos Aires and was moved to Jujuy in 1696. Other historians place the dry customs house in Punilla, near present-day Carlos Paz. The territory was part of the frontier between the Governorate of Córdoba del Tucumán and the nomadic Pampa peoples, the Het, who resisted Spanish expansion through malones. The first mention of the oratory, in 1662, indicates it had been destroyed in one of these attacks. In 1728, the Bishop of Córdoba, José de Sarricolea y Olea, authorized the reconstruction of the Capilla de Rodríguez, designating the Immaculate Conception as its patroness. Its owner was Juan Francisco Rodríguez, and the territory under his charge extended from the road of the troops to Mendoza and Chile to what is now Villa María, 18 leagues along the Tercero River. Around the chapel, in 1805, the missionary presbyter Benito Lascano settled some fifty families of converted indigenous people from the Pampa tolderías, alongside other criollo and mestizo settlers. Cattle raising and farming began then. The chapel, located on the Río Tercero road, a secondary branch of the Camino Real linking Upper Peru with the Litoral, was a criollo cultural outpost and at the same time a small fortress against indigenous incursions, especially from the 18th century when the Het adopted features of the Mapuche cultural complex and became Ranculche. After independence and national organization, with the auspices of the provincial state, immigrants of European origin settled, and in 1889 the town was laid out by the engineer Fernández Ponce; on 25 September of that year the chapel settlement was elevated to villa status. The lands were donated by Doroteo Agüero, Antonio Branca, and Facundo Ortiz. It was named Ascasubi in homage to the costumbrist poet Hilario Ascasubi, who had apparently praised Governor Marcos Juárez but had no special ties to the area. The Capilla de Rodríguez, the centre of the region, fell into ruins at the end of the 19th century. The inhabited area moved to the lands of the new town, a movement consolidated when the parish church was inaugurated in 1898. The railway layout between Rosario and Córdoba did not follow the old Camino Real, whose margins were occupied farmland, so Villa Ascasubi was left isolated. A similar situation occurred when Route 9 also bypassed the town. Important for the town's development was the work of the parish priest José Benard in the early decades of the 20th century; on his initiative the road bridge over the Tercero River was built, which brought the town out of isolation. The bridge, known today as the Puente Viejo, was inaugurated on 28 October 1923. It was a project developed by the Provincial Government and overseen by the engineers Cisneros Malbrán and Deheza. The bridge inauguration took place in the framework of the commemoration of the silver jubilee of the parish temple. The celebrations of both events were organized by the parish priest José Benard. The festivities lasted several days, beginning on 19 October with a novena and ending on 28 October with the ribbon-cutting at the north end of the bridge. On 28 October, activities began with a solemn pontifical mass led by Bishop Monseñor Luque. At noon, an official delegation from the city of Córdoba arrived, composed of the provincial Minister of Finance, Luis Achával; national deputies Juan F. C... From the 1950s, the people of Ascasubi succeeded in getting the provincial state to build paved roads connecting them with Oncativo and Villa María, the latter still under construction in the 2020s. In 1968 the Municipality of Villa Ascasubi was created, with its seat facing Plaza San Martín. The first intendente was the local historian José Alberto Suescun (1968–1987), under whose leadership the town achieved significant development. In 1972 drinking water service arrived and connection with Oncativo and Río Tercero. In those years the street nomenclature was defined, with names of Argentine heroes, local personalities such as Father José Benard, Dr. Luis Brouwer de Koning, and the first pharmacist, Dussan Alacevich, and early settlers. The intendentes Rebufatti, Luis Brouwer de Koning, and Omar Rossetti carried out important efforts for the construction of the Hilario Ascasubi secondary school, already founded in 1972. During these administrations the primary school was expanded, new neighbourhoods were built, and natural gas arrived.

• 1972

  Drinking water service arrived; connection with Oncativo and Río Tercero; Hilario Ascasubi secondary school founded.

• 1968

  Municipality of Villa Ascasubi created; José Alberto Suescun became first intendente (1968–1987).

• 1923

  Puente Viejo road bridge over the Ctalamochita River inaugurated on 28 October.

• 1898

  Parish church inaugurated, consolidating the move of the inhabited area to the new town.

• 1889

  Town laid out by engineer Fernández Ponce; on 25 September the chapel settlement was elevated to villa status and named Ascasubi.

• 1805

  Missionary Benito Lascano settled about fifty families of converted indigenous people around the chapel.

• 1728

  Bishop José de Sarricolea y Olea authorized reconstruction of the Capilla de Rodríguez.

• 1662

  First mention of the oratory, indicating it had been destroyed in an indigenous attack.

• 1628

  Dry customs house of Córdoba reportedly created near the area at Paso Coronado de Pampayasta (per historian Raymundo Chaulot).

• 1585

  Land grant and encomienda issued by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera to Juan Francisco Rodríguez Juárez.

1. 1Inicio | Municipalidad de Villa Ascasubivillaascasubi.gob.ar
2. 2Puente Carretero sobre el Río Ctalamochita (1923) | Municipalidad de Villa Ascasubivillaascasubi.gob.ar
3. 3Villa Ascasubi - Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4Villa Ascasubi - Wikipedia (Spanish)es.wikipedia.org