Calle de la Antracita

The calle de la Antracita owes its name to a mineral: anthracite, the most evolved and compact variety of coal, almost pure carbon, which burns with a short flame and gives off much heat. Its black metallic sheen sets it apart from other coals. The name did not come from any nearby mine. The street belongs to the so-called neighborhood of the Metals, a grid of Legazpi where the city gathered the streets under a single theme. Here, door to door, run metals, minerals and gems: Hierro, Bronce, Plomo, Zinc, Ónice. Anthracite took its place among them as one more fuel in the display. The theme fits the place’s past. From the time the Delicias station filled the area with factories in the late nineteenth century, Legazpi spent a hundred years as a district of workshops and goods. When the sheds closed and the housing blocks arrived, the mineral names remained as a trace of that trade.