Spanish for "little Anthony", Antonito was first called San Antonio Junction. Founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) Railroad in 1880, Antonito is located in the south central part of Conejos County. When the railroad was extending south from Alamosa, company officials failed to get the desired concessions at the old town of Conejos. So, they laid out a site of their own to the southeast of Conejos, and the first train pulled into Antonito the evening of March 27, 1880.
Since that time, the town has been a shipping center for the southern end of the San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico. For many years, it was the junction for two branches of the railroad, one west over Cumbres Pass into the San Juan country and Durango, and the other into the ancient capital of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The D&RGW closed the Chili Line to Santa Fe in 1941 because of competition from road transportation. Today, the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad runs a freight train connecting perlite mine operations and lava rock to the north by hauling rail-cars loaded with these materials out of the area. The narrow gauge sections (Cumbres & Toltec) through the mountains are still in use as a historic tourist train.
