The city is close to the border with Argentina and about due north of Buenos Aires, and north-west from Montevideo, Uruguay's capital.
History
The town was founded as 'Villa Independencia' by Decree of 16 April 1859. It became capital of the Department of Río Negro on 7 July 1860 by the Act of Ley Nº 1.475 and its status was elevated to "Ciudad" on 16 July 1900 by the Act of Ley Nº 2.656. Its current name, meaning "Friar Benedict", is derived from a reclusive priest. Historically, Fray Bentos' main industry has been meat processing. An industrial plant owned by the Societe de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie., the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, was founded there in 1863. It was closed in 1979, after 117 years in operation. A local history museum opened on the site in March 2005. Fray Bentos was the location of the crash of Austral Flight 2553, in which 74 people were killed on 10 October 1997. On 5 July 2015, the city's Barrio Anglo, the location of the industrial plant, was declared a World Heritage Site as the "Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape".
In 1899 a company called "Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay" which originated from Lemco, began making corned beef there, which was sold as "Fray Bentos Corned Beef" in the UK. Fifty years later, the company diversified into soups, meatballs and tinned fruit. During the 1990s the focus shifted to pies and puddings, and the company was taken over by the Campbell Soup Company. In 2006, 'Campbells UK' was acquired by Premier Foods. The "Fray Bentos" brand is now owned in the UK by Baxters, which manufactures the product range in Scotland. The Campbell Soup Company manufactures and sells Fray Bentos-branded steak and kidney pies in Australia. In 2008, the Brazilian-owned Marfrig Group announced the re-opening of one of the factories related to the Liebig factory and the resumption of export of meat products, though at a lower volume than at the original factory.
Botnia S.A., a subsidiary of Finnish corporation Metsä-Botnia, built a large cellulose factory in Fray Bentos to produce bleached eucalyptus pulp; production started in November 2007, and the first shipments were made in December 2007 from the port of Nueva Palmira. Investment in the project was about 1 billion USD. Several groups raised concerns regarding the effects of this and other pulp mills on the Uruguay River, which runs between Uruguay and Argentina, as well as whether Argentina had been provided with adequate notice regarding construction. On 30 April 2005 about 40,000 Argentines from Entre Ríos, along with environmental groups from both countries, demonstrated at the bridge linking both countries; afterwards ten to fifteen Argentines set up a roadblock at the international bridge to put pressure on the Uruguayan government to stop production at the factory, claiming it would gravely pollute the Uruguay River. On 20 December 2005 a World Bank study concluded that the factory would not have a negative impact on the environment or tourism in either country. The paper mill started operating in November 2007.
Museums and culture
Fray Bentos has an Industrial Revolution Museum in the former meat processing factory of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company, where thousands of people worked. When it was shut down, the opportunity was taken to create a museum, with the original machinery, and social and cultural artefacts of the technological revolution in Fray Bentos. The museum exhibits the machinery used in the meat and extract of meat process, the buildings, an 1893 Merryweather water-pumping machine, a complete canning plant, a plant where the meat was cooked, a laboratory, etc. It also has a museum for the artistLuis Alberto Solari, who was born in the city. The Miguel Young Theatre is a cultural landmark.
