Agua Fria (Spanish for “cold water”) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is portion of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,800 at the 2010 census. Agua Fria Village is a “Traditional Historic Community” (THC) as designated by the Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners in 1995 and subsequent Santa Fe County Ordinance #1996-16, as allowed by State Statute (3-7-1.1 and 3-2-3 (C) NMSA 1978).

Native Americans lived in this Place circa 3,000-3,500 BCE because of the water availability and ascetic temperatures (about 30 fewer freezing days than in Santa Fe). Recent archaeological piece of legislation shows a presence in this area back to 7,000 BCE.

The Spanish below command of Juan de Oñate passed through this Place on the quirk to founding the first capital of New Mexico San Gabriel in 1598 (near present-day San Juan Pueblo – Okhay Owinge). The first recorded pact was circa 1640 by the grandparents of Major Roque Madrid (the area then known as Pueblo Quemado for a burnt native town in the area). The grandfather Francisco de Madrid may have ‘dropped off’ from a 1603 expedition to farm this area (he is the namesake of Madrid, New Mexico, a mining area).

As these settlements of Cieneguitas, Agua Fria and Cieneguilla expanded in Spanish Colonial New Mexico, they were called Ranchitos, as the population grew they became a Placita. Agua Fria was identified by two groups. The Place by the Church was “La Placita de Los Romeros” and the additional one in the area of the Tanque, the “watering hole” (area of Lopez Lane and Camino de Oro Road) became “La Placita de Los Lopez.” As the community grew, it acquired the status of a Village.