It lies 55 km northeast of the provincial capital, by Provincial Route 1, on the Calchines stream within the western banks of the San Javier River (a tributary of the Paraná).

The town was founded in 1816 as an Indian reduction, with the name of San Miguel de Calchines, under the control of Franciscan missionaries.

In 1856 the priest in charge of the reduction calculated the number of resident natives as 3,000, and asked for a town to be established.

In 1861 governor Pascual Rosas ordered the natives to be moved again to San Javier, but they rebelled and were split into three reductions: San Javier, Cayastá and Calchines.

Santa Rosa de Calchines was named in honor of St. Rose of Lima, its patron.