San Antonio, or unofficially "San Ann" or "San An" as the locals call it, is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, much more commonly known as the Tampa Bay Area. It lies within Florida's 12th congressional district. The population was 1,297 at the 2020 census.
It was established as a Catholic colony by Judge Edmund F. Dunne. The city derives its name from Saint Anthony of Padua. Saint Leo University is located nearby.
History
thumb|left|St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, est. 1883
San Antonio was founded by Edmund F. Dunne, an Irish American who had previously served as chief justice of the Arizona Territory. Dunne was a legal counsel involved in the Disston Land Purchase, and as his commission, received 100,000 choice acres (400 km2) of land out of the 4,000,000-acre (16,000 km) purchase. The following year on February 15, 1882, while surveying the Disston Land Purchase with his cousin, Captain Hugh Dunne, he came upon a previously unsurveyed lake with crystal-clear water. Seeing in a prayer book that it was the feast day of St. Jovita, he named the lake, Lake Jovita, after the early Christian martyr, and named the community, "San Antonio de Padua", after Saint Anthony of Padua.
Judge Dunne selected the city's location on Lake Jovita's western shore and began settling it in earnest. He intended for the city to be the center of a Roman Catholic colony in Florida, then a heavily Protestant state. Dunne planned several other villages for the surrounding area including St. Thomas, Villa Maria, Carmel and San Felipe, but only the rural community of St. Joseph survives today.
In June 1889, the Benedictines established the monastery of St. Leo and St. Leo College on Dunne's former homestead and farm land, later incorporating the area as part of a separate town, St. Leo, Florida. Earlier that year five Benedictine sisters established Holy Name Convent in the center of San Antonio. The nuns had come to teach at two local schools (St. Anthony School and St. Joseph School), as well as to establish Holy Name Academy. The sisters had the convent and the academy physically moved by oxen to a 40-acre parcel in St. Leo overlooking the southwestern shore of Lake Jovita in 1911. The nuns remained at St. Anthony School until the end of the 2009–2010 academic year.
On June 2, 1926, the city officially changed its name to the "City of Lake Jovita" in an attempt to capitalize on the Florida Land Boom. The city also changed many of its street names, replacing explicitly Catholic names with secular ones. On May 23, 1931, the city changed its name back to the "City of San Antonio"; but the secularized street names remained.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.
San Antonio has a rolling topography with elevations varying from a low of 110 feet on the western edge of the city to as high as 183 feet on a hill overlooking Lake Jovita on the eastern edge of town.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, the City of San Antonio has a humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa).
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition
{| class="wikitable"
|+San Antonio racial composition<br> (Hispanics excluded from racial categories)<br> (NH = Non-Hispanic)<br>
!Race
!Pop 2010
!Pop 2020
!% 2010
!% 2020
|-
|White (NH)
|1,043
|994
|91.65%
|76.64%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|12
|32
|1.05%
|2.47%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|0
|11
|0.00%
|0.85%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|4
|17
|0.35%
|1.31%
|-
|Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian (NH)
|0
|0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|-
|Some other race (NH)
|3
|3
|0.26%
|0.23%
|-
|Two or more races/Multiracial (NH)
|7
|54
|0.62%
|4.16%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|69
|186
|6.06%
|14.34%
|-
|Total
|1,138
|1,297
|
|
|-
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, San Antonio had a population of 1,297. The median age was 41.3 years. 21.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.0 males age 18 and over.
There were 518 households in San Antonio, of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 57.9% were married-couple households, 13.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 20.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
2010 census
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 1,138 people, 414 households, and 302 families residing in the city.
2000 census
As of the census The clerk further asserted that most of the residents received their mail via post office box, which the US Census Bureau would not send forms to. City officials speculated that the population that year was probably closer to 900, which would be more consistent with the growth reflected in data collected in other cities throughout the county, as well as Pasco County as a whole. The 2010 census count of 1,138 residents was considered to be much more accurate.
Education
right|thumb|St. Anthony Catholic School, est. 1884 San Antonio is home to two schools. Saint Anthony Catholic School (grades PreK–8) traces its roots to the Fall of 1883 when local widow Cecilia Morse began teaching colony children in her home. By April 1884 it was officially established as a Catholic school and is by far the oldest school of any kind in Pasco County. Holy Name Academy (grades 1–12) was established in 1889 as an "all-girls" boarding school by the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, but moved to the neighboring town of St. Leo in 1911.
Notable person
- Chris Arnade, former Wall Street trader and documentarian, grew up in San Antonio
References
External links
- City of San Antonio official site
- San Antonio Area Information A private community site with local happenings
- History of San Antonio (Fivay.org)