[6] In 1889, the Benedictines established the monastery of St. Leo and St. Leo College on Judge Edmund F. Dunne's former homestead and farm land east of San Antonio, Florida on the shores of Lake Jovita, later incorporating the area as part of a new town called St.

The following year on February 15, while surveying the Disston Purchase with his cousin, Captain Hugh Dunne,[8] Dunne selected the area around Lake Jovita, which he named after St. Jovita, as his commission and began settling it.

He first established the Catholic colony of San Antonio in 1882, and later added the surrounding villages of Saint Joseph, Saint Thomas, Villa Maria, Carmel, and San Felipe.

The area of what is now the Town of St. Leo, although originally platted as another village by Dunne, did not receive its name until after the arrival of the Benedictine monks.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,362 people, 20 households, and 8 families residing in the town.

[17] As of the 2010 United States census, there were 1,340 people, 106 households, and 75 families residing in the town.