Company towns in Uruguay, 1865-1940

Urban, architectural and socio-spatial considerations based on the study of six cases

Abstract

This article reviews the history of company towns in Uruguay, one of the most relevant forms of response to the housing problem before the direct intervention of the State. The company town is understood as the urban complex of housing and services created by capitalist companies for the use of their own workers. The cases of the villages of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, Aguas Corrientes, Conchillas, Peñarol, the refrigerators in Cerro de Montevideo and Salvo and Campomar will be considered. Although there were other cases, these present an adequate diversity for the purposes of this work.

Based on the common characteristics and the differences of these cases, some of which have already been treated by historiography while others have not yet been addressed, the article proposes to reflect on three dimensions of the workers' villages. In the first place, its condition as a "microcosm" is reviewed, that is, as places with relative urban and social autonomy. Second, and directly related to the above, the relevance of the category of "ideal community" for these enterprises is discussed. Finally, the realization and expression of the hierarchies within each of them is analyzed.