The Piro Indian pueblo Teypana was visited by Juan de Oñate in 1598. The people of the village reportedly supplied corn to Oñate, who bestowed the name Socorro ("aid" in Spanish) on the pueblo. In 1626, the mission of Nuestra Señora de Socorro was built at the nearby pueblo of Pilabó. Abandoned during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the present town was founded in 1815.