San Elizario is a city in El Paso County, Texas, United States.

It lies on the Rio Grande, which forms the border between the United States and Mexico.

In 1598, Juan de Oñate, a Spanish nobleman and conquistador born in Zacatecas, Mexico, led a group of 539 colonists and 7,000 head of livestock (including horses, oxen, and cattle) from southern Chihuahua to settle the province of New Mexico.

The caravan traveled a northeasterly route for weeks across the desert until it reached the banks of the Rio Grande in the San Elizario area.

Oñate performed the ceremony of La Toma ("Taking Possession"), in which he claimed the new province for King Philip II of Spain.

The hacienda was located along the route of Camino Real de Tierra Adentro southeast of Socorro on the west bank of the Rio Grande.

[7] On November 5, 2013, San Elizario residents voted to re-incorporate the town, having successfully fought off an attempt by Socorro to annex a portion of it, and San Elizario was officially incorporated when El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar signed an order of incorporation on November 18, 2013.

[8] On May 10, 2014, Maya Sanchez, who led the push to incorporate San Elizario, was elected mayor by a wide margin over two other candidates, while Leticia Hurtado-Miranda, David Cantu, Miguel Najera, Jr., Rebecca Martinez-Juarez, and George Almanzar were elected to the five city council seats.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 10,116 people, 2,435 households, and 2,168 families residing in the city.

The presidio was moved to the present site in 1789, to protect travelers and settlers along the Camino Real (Royal Highway)[14] which ran from Mexico City through Ciudad Juárez, then called "Paso del Norte", to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[4]: 47 The wedding scene for the movie Fandango (1985) was filmed in the plaza of the San Elizario church.