Jardín Balbuena is a neighborhood in Venustiano Carranza, Mexico City, east of the historic center. The neighborhood was developed in the early 1950s and most of its infrastructure was designed by architects Mario Pani and Agustín Landa Verdugo. Jardín Balbuena is the seat of Venustiano Carranza, as it houses the headquarters of the borough.[2]
The area was known as Potrero de Balbuena (Balbuena Paddock), named for Spanish poet Bernardo de Balbuena, and was used by locals to feed their cattle. It was later bought by the Braniff family, who built two haciendas, Magadalena and Santa Lucía, and changed its name to Llanos de Balbuena (Balbuena Plains).[3][4]
On 8 January 1910, Alberto Braniff took off his Voisin airplane, imported from France, from Llanos de Balbuena, and flew over Mexico City, becoming the first aviator to fly a plane in Mexico and the second in Latin America.[5] Llanos de Balbuena became the first airfield in Mexico. On 30 November 1911, President Francisco I. Madero became the first Mexican head of state to fly in a plane, when he flew in George Miller Dyott's Deperdussin over Mexico City, taking off and landing in Llanos de Balbuena.[6] It was also used by the fledgling Mexican Air Force for bomb target practice.[7]
