Mar del Plata is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The city grew and developed rapidly at the turn of the 20th Century. New immigrants from Europe, most of whom arrived in the 1910s, demanded and achieved control of the Municipality administration. Socialists were the leading political force in this period, undertaking social reforms and public investment. The main port was also built and inaugurated in 1916.
Argentina’s first military coup occurred on September 6, 1930, reinstating conservative hegemony at all levels of government, including the local level. Though unpopular and fraudulent, this old-new order brought some progress and investment to an ailing country during the Great Depression. Mass tourism began in this decade, helped by improved roads. Still, it took off in the 1940s and 1950s, when union-run hotels under the Perón presidency made the city affordable for Argentina’s middle and working classes.
Here are some fascinating historical photos by LIFE photographer Hart Preston showing what life was like in Mar del Plata in the early 1940s.
