It is located in the Tres de Febrero Partido, immediately to the west of the neighborhood of Liniers in Buenos Aires city proper.

The town began to take shape with the arrival of the Ferrocarril Oeste railway in 1910, and was officially established that year.

Ciudadela gradually grew around the railway station, and eventually merged into the Greater Buenos Aires urban agglomeration.

The subject of ongoing controversy, its colloquial name stems from Fort Apache, The Bronx, a 1981 movie about a crime-ridden part of New York City.

Ciudadela had 73,155 inhabitants according to 2001 census, and features a lively commerce hub along Avenida Rivadavia, as well as two Jewish cemeteries.