[4] It is geographically located at Metro Manila's approximate center and is also the country's smallest city in terms of land area.

Other locations include Greenhills and Santolan Town Plaza, making the city a major shopping hub with a range of upscale, boutique and bargain retail.

During the pre-Hispanic period, the area of what is now San Juan was a part of the Kingdom of Namayan, whose last recorded rulers were King Lakan Tagkan and his consort, Bouan.

[7] In the late 16th century, the kingdom and other polities in the islands were absorbed into the Spanish Crown, with the realm of Namayan christened as the parish of Santa Ana de Sapa.

[8] In 1602, along the Camino de Mandaluyong (now F. Blumentritt Street), the Dominican Order built a novitiate house in the town for their immediate use, where ageing or convalescing friars stayed.

Within the area, the Dominicans also constructed a convent and a stone church, the Santuario del Santo Cristo, dedicating it to the Holy Cross.

[8] Given the isolation that the town had from the city of Manila, the colonial government decided to establish a heavily fortified gunpowder magazine called the Almacén de Pólvora (also known as El Polvorín) in San Juan del Monte in 1771.

The gunpowder magazine (located at present-day San Juan Elementary School) was situated along the banks of the Salapang River (now known as Salapán Creek), with access provided by the Camino de Mariquina (now N. Domingo Street), which connected Manila and the nearby barrio of Santa Mesa across the San Juan River Bridge to the pueblo of Mariquina (now Marikina).

[8] In 1783, San Juan del Monte was promoted to a municipality, separating it from the Santa Ana parish and giving it its own local government as a barrio of the Province of Manila.

[8] When the Philippine Revolution against Spain broke out in August 1896, the Katipunan revolutionaries led by Andrés Bonifacio and his aide Emilio Jacinto made their way from Pugad Lawin in Caloocan (now part of Quezon City) to attack the El Polvorín and its military garrison in San Juan del Monte on the morning of August 30, 1896.

[11] Throughout the war, various regiments of the United States Volunteer Army carried out multiple skirmishes against militias and soldiers of the First Philippine Republic in towns along the Camino de Mariquina, where they had cleared out Filipino forces at the El Deposito reservoir, its pumping station road (now Pinaglabanan Street, part of Santolan Road), and the santuario.

[12] Both the revolution and the war caused many of the original residents of San Juan del Monte to evacuate en masse, permanently settling in neighboring towns.

At the time, the municipality consisted of the nine barrios of Poblacion, Andres Bonifacio, Ermitaño, N. Domingo, Rincon, San Francisco del Monte, Sapang Camias, Sulapan, and Tibagan.

[21] San Juan, especially its exclusive subdivisions in Greenhills, was home to many prominent personalities during the country's Martial Law era under President Ferdinand Marcos.

This included several Armed Forces of the Philippines generals, including Romeo Espino, Alfredo Montoya, and Romeo Gatan,[22] who would later be tagged as members of the "Rolex 12";[23] Imelda Marcos’ secretary Fe Jimenez Roa;[22] Presidential Assistant on Legal Affairs Ronaldo Zamora, who would later become a congressman for the lone congressional district of San Juan;[22] San Juan Mayor Joseph Estrada, who would later become President of the Philippines;[22] and prominent journalist Maximo Soliven, who was imprisoned when President Marcos first declared Martial Law in September 1972.

824 establishing the National Capital Region was signed on November 7, 1975, San Juan was among the towns excised from Rizal Province into the newly created metropolitan area.

[24] Club Filipino, which had relocated to San Juan in 1970 from its original location in Santa Mesa, became an important part of the establishment of the Fifth Philippine Republic when Corazon Aquino was inaugurated there on February 25, 1986, the last day of the civilian-led 1986 People Power Revolution.

[25] In 1992, San Juan had the fewest informal settler families out of all the municipalities and cities in Metro Manila based on data from the National Housing Authority.

The Santuario del Santo Cristo is the settlement's oldest existing church, while Mary the Queen Parish in West Greenhills serves the local Filipino-Chinese community.

[47] However, in 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was reduced to a parade of the image of St. John the Baptist with social distancing and mask mandates in place.

Secondary routes include Nicolas Domingo (abbreviated N. Domingo), which heads towards Cubao in Quezon City, and Pinaglabanan Street (which continues as Santolan Road) leading towards Ortigas Avenue and eventually the southern reaches of Quezon City near Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

[52] Public higher education is offered by the state Polytechnic University of the Philippines, which maintains its San Juan campus in Barangay Addition Hills.

[53] Private higher education is offered by the Dominican College in Barangay Tibagan, one of the oldest schools in the city, having been established in 1924.