St. Leo is a town in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,340 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the home of St. Leo University, Holy Name Monastery and St. Leo Abbey. Vincent D'Ambrosio currently serves as the commission-elected mayor of the town, elected in 2022. History 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. Leo. Dunne was a legal counsel involved in the Disston Land Purchase of 1881, 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, while surveying the Disston Purchase with his cousin, Captain Hugh Dunne, 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. Only the rural community of Saint Joseph survives today. 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 present name is derived from Pope Leo IX. Geography St. Leo is located at (28.337929, –82.253265). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (13.90%) is water. St. Leo contains rolling hills with elevations from 100 ft to 180 ft. Climate Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 595 people, 41 households, and 30 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 44 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 85.38% White, 8.57% African American, 1.85% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 3.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.91% of the population. There were 41 households, out of which 43.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1%