Barrio de Analco
(Plaque on corner of East de Vargas Street and Old Santa Fe Trial)
This barrio, or district, in the center of which is the San Miguel Chapel, is the oldest settlement of European origin in Santa Fe except for the Plaza, and hence one of the oldest in the United States. Originally settled in the 1600s by Tlaxcalan Indian servants from Mexico who came with the Franciscan missionaries and Spanish officials, it took the Nahuatl word analco (the other side of the water) to distinguish it from the Plaza area, which was on the north side of the Rio de Santa Fe. Soon after the Barrio de Analco was settled, the original San Miguel Chapel was built to serve as the mission church.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HISTORIC SANTA FE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES