A precedent: the Society for the Attraction of Outsiders

Higini Feliu's period began at the time when Barcelona, for the first time after the Civil War, already had a Municipal Charter, just like Madrid. This legal instrument made the mayor an absolute manager of the city, but from then on it led to - with an incipient tourism and a considerable foreign investment in the industry - the mayor promoting the Trade Fair, the so-called "salons" of nautical, automobile, and other industry sectors, and above all, construction.

The Association was invited by the City Council, in May 1968, to be present at the commemoration event of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the "Society for Attracting Foreigners." Founded in 1908, that society - probably the first of its kind in Spain - was conceived by Manuel Ribé, an official from the City Council, although the mayor Domènec J. Sanllehy i Alrich (1847-1911) appeared as its president.

The culminating act of that commemoration consisted of placing a plaque on the facade of number 37 of Rambla de Santa Mònica, where the Society for Attracting Foreigners had its first headquarters. The Society disappeared at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. However, in a way, it inspired the recently created Neighborhood and Merchants Association and Plaça Catalunya.