History

This city was funded on the 22nd of 1892 on the crossroad of the routes from Trenque Lauquen to Toay and from General Acha to Victorica. Tomás Mason made his dream come true by the gate of the estancia (rural establishment) La Malvina that belonged to Remigio Gil. Its main house is still extant by the Don Tomás Lagoon.
Soon afterwards the city life was organized and Mason presided on several occasions the City Council.
The city was named after the founder’s wife, Rose Fouston de Mason. On 1904 the capital of the Territorio de la Pampa Central (Central Plain Territory) was moved from General Acha to Santa Rosa de Toay as it was called till a decree of the 22nd of March of 1917 established that the name of the city would be just Santa Rosa.

Geography

Location

Santa Rosa, along with Anquil, is part of the Capital Department. It is located at the west border of the Pampa Húmeda (Humid Plain), at the geographical center of the country.

Surface: 2525 sq. km. (1570 sq. miles)

Population: 96.938 inhabitants.

How to get there

From Buenos Aires you can drive there or take a bus, train or plane. If you drive from the capital city you should take National Routes Nr. 5, 35 and 22.
From Córdoba city you should take route Nr. 35.

Distances from Santa Rosa to:

Buenos Aires: 607 km. (377 miles)
Bahía Blanca: 325 km. (202 miles)
Córdoba: 618 km. (384 miles)
Neuquén: 535 km. (332 miles)

Topography

Santa Rosa is located at a fertile undulated plain near the monte pampeano (plain bush).

Climate

In winter the average temperature is 9,1°C (48,4°F) and in summer it is 22,4°C (72,3°F).It rains mainly in spring and summer.

Flora

Some of the vegetal species you may find are: lichens, cola de caballo, cebadilla (small barley), pasto llorón, roseta, sauce criollo (creole willow), sombra de toro, papa del monte, zampa, bledo, algarrobo, barba de chivo, caldén, chañar, piquillín, hierba del mosquito, margaritas (daisies) morada, punzó and pampeana, poleo, thyme, chilladora, chilca, matorro, pichana, pampa tea and yerba de la oveja.

Economy

Santa Rosa has a growing tourist infrastructure with lodging for 1500 people in hotels of different categories. It features comfortable lodging, regional and international food restaurants, discos, cinemas, theatres and a casino.
It is the seat of fairs and government, business and scientific conventions and also hosts sports and cultural events all year round. The Universidad Nacional de La Pampa has its seat at Santa Rosa.