Villa Gesell

 ( Villa Gesell Partido ) 

The forestation work did not proceed as expected: the strong saline winds moved the sand and harmed the plants, exposing and drying their roots. Gesell hired German agronomist Carlos Bodesheim in 1934, who could not find a solution. He then implemented two new ideas. First, he planted a high number of , capable of surviving in the dunes, in order to anchor the sand in place. He planted trees with tubed roots, so that the roots sought water deeper in the ground and the wind could not tear them. Losses were still high, but decreasing. In 1938 he learned about the Australian Acacia longifolia, which was well adapted to the sand and the saline winds, and increased the ratio of nitrogen fixation. The Acacia was a success, and he arranged the plants so that the Acacias protected the pines from the wind.

Carlos Gesell lived permanently in the area from 1937 on. He began to run out of money in 1940, so he built a small timeshare named " La Golondrina" (). The first tourists were the Starks. Mr. Stark was manager of the local branch of the Siemens corporation. The Starks promoted the town back in Buenos Aires, and more tourist accommodations were built. The town was linked to Provincial Route 11 in 1943.

With new houses for tourists and the local population, the area was turned into a proper urban settlement, so Gesell began to look after the needed urban services, such as the supply of food, electric power, gasoline and a car workshop. He banned alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and any other things he deemed as a vice. He strongly opposed the establishment of a local casino, which was finally established at the nearby town of Pinamar. The city saw a large European immigration during World War II, who built the first hotels and themed restaurants. Most Italians worked as construction laborers, and most Spaniards administrated the shops and hotels. Urban development grew even more in the 1960s, as people who bought land and built houses within not more than six months were refunded half of the land's original price.

The settlement gradually expanded stretching along the coastline, and today continues its growth and has annexed three more resorts to the south, namely, Mar de las Pampas, Las Gaviotas and Mar Azul. Villa Gesell has been a popular tourist destination since the 1940s.

Villa Gesell became known for many years as a tourist destination for teenagers, but in 2008 the administrations was seeking to attract mature tourists instead. The annual "Gesell Rock" Rock festival was replaced by family-oriented musical shows. In 2020 Fernando Báez Sosa was murdered in Villa Gesell, which gained nationwide notoriety.