Westmeath remembered in Argentine town

Dear Editor, I would like to let you know that on Sat 21st March 09, O"Brien, a town in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina will celebrate its centenary.This town was founded on 21st March 1909 by Edward O"Brien and Jane Bohan, two Irish immigrants in Argentina.Jane Bohan was born in Ballymacmorris, Kilbeggan then the family sold the property in Ballymacmorris and moved to Kilbeggan in 1861, and in 1865 they emigrated to Argentina arriving in Buenos Aires on 15 December 1865.This is the only town in Argentina designed by an Irish man and an Irish woman, who, after the railway station 'O"Brien' had been built, did a layout for a town on part of their lands following the Spanish model where the heart is a central square surrounded by the public buildings.The town has a beautiful layout with great sense of space, having very wide pedestrian paths and streets. They donated the sites for the public buildings, schools and the central square.They also put the money for the building and decoration of the St Patrick"s church in O"Brien, whose design was commissioned to Robert Lornax.YoursAnnabel BowenCounty Wicklow