Situated on the left bank of the Capibaribe River, in the Boa Vista neighbourhood, it used to be a swamp owned by businessman Casimiro Antônio Medeiros, the first to build on those lands and defeat the water-logged left bank of the Capibaribe.

According to Dutch documents, confirmed in a map by Barléus in his book A History of Works Recently Done in Eight Years in Brazil (under the reign of Maurice of Nassau), there was a bastion (part of a fortification) on the spot where Nova St begins.