History
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On Feb. 15, 1881, Judge Edmund F. Dunne and Captain Hugh Dunne, his cousin, came across this clear lake and named it for Saint Jovita, whose feast day it was. Judge Dunne established San Antonio Catholic Colony on land he received for legal services in negotiating the Disston purchase of four million acres from the state at 25 cents an acre. The colony was named to honor St. Anthony of Padua in thanksgiving for an answer to prayer. It was originally planned as a central city surrounded by farm villages. Judge Dunne’s home was built where St. Leo Abbey and St. Leo College now stand.
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St. Leo, Florida · United States
