San Antonio is an unincorporated community in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States, roughly in the center of the state, on the Rio Grande. The entire population of the county is around 18,000; the population of San Antonio is hard to pin down because the area is not defined by the US Census.San Antonio is nowadays partly agricultural, partly a bedroom community for Socorro and White Sands Missile Range. San Antonio supports a few small businesses, which include the original Owl Bar and Cafe (featured on an episode of the Travel Channel's Burger Land in 2013), Manny's Buckhorn Tavern (featured in 2009 on the Food Network's Throwdown! with Bobby Flay,), San Antonio Crane, a restaurant featuring Mexican food, a seasonal roadside market, and a general store. There are other important aspects to the area, such as being the gateway to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Interstate 25 runs along the west, and US 380 begins there and heads east to Carrizozo. The Rio Grande is just to the east of San Antonio, and the BNSF Railway runs through it and has a small yard (not much more than a siding).San Antonio has an elementary school, built in the WPA era. It also has a water system and a volunteer fire department; both include in their districts Luis Lopez, midway between San Antonio and Socorro, as well as Bosquecito and San Pedro, both of which are east of the Rio Grande. There is no local government other than the county itself. There is a US Post Office (Zip Code 87832).The village's Roman Catholic church, named after San Antonio, is served by the priest from San Miguel Church in Socorro. It has mass once a month in rotation with four other churches in small communities around Socorro. Saint Anthony was popular in this part of New Spain and this resulted in many communities having a San Antonio church.There is also a Baptist church in San Antonio, the Community Baptist Church.San Antonio, when part of New Mexico Territory, was the birthplace of Conrad Hilton. His father managed the Harvey House in San Antonio and Hilton learned the hotel trade there. Hilton was one of the original legislators in the newly formed state of New Mexico, and founded the Hilton Hotels Corporation. Hilton's name can still be seen ("C Hilton 1903") carved on the wall of what was once the schoolhouse, since then a mechanic's garage, and now a barn.
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