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.
During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Barrio de Analco was the first section of Santa Fe to be sacked and razed by attackers from "all the Tanos and Pecos nations, and the Querez of San Marcos armed and giving war-whoops." The rebels approached through the cultivated fields to the south. Those residents who escaped took refuge in the PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS with the beleaguered Spaniards and later retreated with Governor Otermín to El Paso. After the reconquest only a few of its former settlers returned, but the Barrio was soon rebuilt by others.
By 1776 the Barrio de Analco was occupied by married soldiers. genízario servants (Indians living in a Europeanized status), and other laborers. It is probable that some buildings still standing in this area were built before that date.
Several buildings described on the following pages are located within the Barrio de Analco. This concentration of structures, deemed worthy of preservation from both historical and architectural standpoints, provides an authentic setting for the San Miguel Chapel and points up the significance and importance of the Barrio to Santa Fe.