[4] Santo Tomas is the hometown of Philippine Revolution and Philippine–American War hero Miguel Malvar, the last Filipino General to surrender to the Americans.

When the Spanish friars arrived, their first and foremost objective was to construct a church near the river to satisfy their inclination for water.

Thus, the present site of a Roman Catholic church was chosen near the San Juan River.

They were given such odd names as "Kabaong", because of coffin-shaped stones along the road; "Putol" because the trail was cut short by Mount Makiling; "Aptayin", because "apta" or fine shrimps were found in the brook; "Biga", because biga trees abounded there; and "Camballao", as in "kambal" (twin) because twin rivers divided the place.

The whole town was given the name of Santo Tomas de Aquino, after a saint of the Dominican Order to where most of the first friars belonged.

[6] In 2016, Nelson P. Collantes, the then-representative of Batangas's 3rd District, filed a House bill to convert Santo Tomas into a component city.

[7] After few years, with a unanimous vote of 19–0, the Senate approved a bill for the municipality's conversion into a city on March 19, 2018.

[10] It was effectively ratified on September 7, 2019 through a plebiscite wherein majority of residents who voted approved the cityhood.

It borders the cities of Calamba to the north, Los Baños to the north-east, Alaminos to the east, Tanauan and Malvar to the west, and Lipa to the south.

Aside from various real estate development in the city, Santo Tomas also has a popular lifestyle and commercial complex in the locality.

Jeepneys (Filipino: "dyip") connect the city with Calamba to the north, Tanauan to the south, and San Pablo to the east.

UV Express service also connects Santo Tomas with San Pablo, Santa Rosa, Lipa, and Dasmariñas.

The anggitays are creatures resembling centaurs but have a single horn on the forehead and are generally female.