Urbita Hot Springs

Last updated

Urbita Hot Springs
Midway Springs
Pickering Park
Urbita Hot Springs circa 1900 San Bernardino California CHS-11903 USC doi 10.25549 slash chs-m3501.jpg
Lagoon at the Urbita Hot Springs in San Bernardino c. 1900 (CHS-11903 via USC Digital Library)
Urbita Hot Springs
Coordinates 34°05′02″N117°17′38″W / 34.084°N 117.294°W / 34.084; -117.294
Type Geothermal
Discharge760 liters/minute [1]
Temperature41 °C (106 °F)

Urbita Hot Springs was a historic hot springs and amusement park in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Urbita Springs Park was located between E Street and Colton Street in San Bernardino where the Inland Center mall stands today.

Contents

History

Urbita Springs were used by indigenous people of the area. [2] Used for recreation by settlers as early as the 1880s, [3] the site was first known as Midway Springs, as they stood midway between San Bernardino and Colton. [2] Willows and cottonwoods (likely native) grew around the lake, and other ferns and flowers were later delivered by train and added to the landscape. [4] The name Urbita means "little city" and applied first to a nearby development established in 1899. [5] In 1905 there was an Urbita School located at H Street and Adell Street in San Bernardino. [6]

Daily Times-Index, San Bernardino, August 5, 1901 Daily Times-Index San Bernardino, California Monday, August 05, 1901.jpg
Daily Times-Index, San Bernardino, August 5, 1901

Urbita was one of several hot springs in San Bernardino County, including Arrowhead Hot Springs, Harlem Hot Springs, and Rabel Hot Springs, which were first developed as resorts in the 1880s. [7] The San Bernardino Valley Traction Co. ran a trolley line out to the springs, and a separate (but associated) company developed the bathhouse and surrounding parkland. [8] The lake may have been created or significantly expanded on the "low land to the south of the present bathhouse" in 1901 when the site was purchased by A. C. Denman Jr. [9]

Urbita Springs was ultimately developed into a 15-acre (6.1 ha; 650,000 sq ft) amusement park oriented toward working-class families. [7] Nearby there was the Association Park racetrack, football fields, and a baseball diamond. [8] [10] In early days it featured sulphured water baths, rowboating on the lake, a carousel, and a small zoo. [2] The dance hall and the plunge swimming pool were both 50 ft by 100 ft, there were 100 changing rooms, and 40 porcelain soaking tubs. [10] The Urbita Zoo had snakes, llamas, and raccoons. [7] [2] Hot-air ballooning was attempted in 1911. [11] Urbita Springs hosted the National Orange Show convention in 1918. [12]

The springs were first developed by the San Bernardino Valley Traction Co. and were a featured attraction on their Poinsettia route. Bb7204142q 1 page 23 - Poinsettia Route.jpg
The springs were first developed by the San Bernardino Valley Traction Co. and were a featured attraction on their Poinsettia route.

Operated for a time by the Pacific Electric streetcar company, and home to the Urbita Lake Railway, the site was renamed Pickering Park in 1924. [7] [4] Pickering Park shut down in 1939 due to a combination of the financial crisis of the Great Depression and a drought that depleted groundwater and dried up the park's signature lake. [7] The Urbita Springs Ballroom survived into the 1950s. [7] In the 1940s and 1950s, surrounding wetlands and water features also dried up and the land was subdivided for retail and residential use. [13]

By 1960 the park was described as overgrown, abandoned, "desolate" and littered with discarded beer cans. [14] In 1966 what had once been Urbita Springs Park became the site of Inland Shopping Center. [2] In the 1980s, after "a succession of unusually wet winters and intentional replenishing of the water supply overloaded the underground basin," springs and underground water began emerging in places in San Bernardino where it was unexpected and unwanted, including in basements, movie theaters, and in an elevator shaft at San Bernardino City Hall. [13] Outdoors, cattails began to grow in low places on undeveloped land. [13]

Water profile

Urbita Springs pictured in Out West magazine, 1908 Pages from content(18) page 1 - Out West magazine 1908.jpg
Urbita Springs pictured in Out West magazine, 1908

The hot water was believed to come from 600 feet (180 m) below ground. [8] According to an U.S. government survey of California springs first published in 1915, "About 1 mile south of San Bernardino a recreation park known as Urbita Hot Springs has been built about a group of artesian wells that yield thermal water. This water supplies a swimming plunge, tub baths, and a small lake. The warmest well yields about 200 US gallons (760 L; 170 imp gal) a minute of mildly sulphureted water that is said to have a temperature of 106 °F (41 °C). The following partial analysis shows that, like the water at Arrowhead and at Harlem springs, it is not highly mineralized, but small amounts of sulphur and iron constituents in the water cause it to stain the enameled bathtubs." [15] The thermal springs in the area were associated with a tectonic fault at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. [15]

Additional images

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bernardino County, California</span> County in southern California, United States

San Bernardino County, officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181,654, making it the fifth-most populous county in California and the 14th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is San Bernardino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bernardino, California</span> City in California, United States

San Bernardino is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the 18th-largest city in California. San Bernardino is the economic, cultural, and political hub of the San Bernardino Valley and the Inland Empire. The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico have established the metropolitan area's only consulates in the downtown area of the city. Additionally, San Bernardino serves as an anchor city to the 3rd largest metropolitan area in California and the 12th largest metropolitan area in the United States; the San Bernardino-Riverside MSA. Furthermore, the city's University District serves as a college town, as home to California State University, San Bernardino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arrowhead Water</span> Bottled water brand

Arrowhead Water, also known as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, is a brand of drinking water that is sold in the western United States, particularly in Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Northwestern United States, the Northwest, and in California. It is bottled from 13 springs throughout the Western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Springs National Park</span> National park in Arkansas, United States

Hot Springs National Park is a national park of the United States in central Garland County, Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Hot Springs. Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832, to be preserved for future recreation. Established before the concept of a national park existed, it was the first time that land had been set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation. The hot spring water has been popularly believed for centuries to possess medicinal properties, and was a subject of legend among several Native American tribes. Following federal protection in 1832, the city developed into a successful spa town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arrowhead Springs, San Bernardino</span> Neighborhood of San Bernardino in California, United States

Arrowhead Springs is a highly mountainous neighborhood in the 81-square-mile (210 km2) municipality of San Bernardino, California, officially annexed to the city on November 19, 2009. The neighborhood lies below the Arrowhead geological monument, which is California Historical Landmark #977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Bernardino Valley</span> Valley in California, United States

The San Bernardino Valley is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; on the east by the San Jacinto Mountains; on the south by the Temescal Mountains and Santa Ana Mountains; and on the west by the Pomona Valley. Elevation varies from 590 feet (180 m) on valley floors near Chino to 1,380 feet (420 m) near San Bernardino and Redlands. The valley floor is home to over 80% of the more than 4 million people in the Inland Empire region.

San Bernardino, California, was named in 1810.

Inland Center is a regional shopping mall owned and operated by Macerich, located in San Bernardino, California along the southwest border adjacent to Interstate 215 and the city of Colton. The mall is within one mile of three bordering cities on the southern end of San Bernardino. Inland Center is a single-level mall anchored by, JCPenney, Forever 21 and Macy's, plus 110 specialty shops and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathhouse Row</span> United States historic place

Bathhouse Row is a collection of bathhouses, associated buildings, and gardens located at Hot Springs National Park in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The bathhouses were included in 1832 when the Federal Government took over four parcels of land to preserve 47 natural hot springs, their mineral waters which lack the sulphur odor of most hot springs, and their area of origin on the lower slopes of Hot Springs Mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seigler Springs, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Seigler Springs is a set of springs in Lake County, California around which a resort developed in the 19th century. In the 1930s the resort was expanded, and in 1947 an airport opened nearby. The resort declined in the 1960s. Part of it was separated out and became a residential subdivision, while part became a religious retreat. The 2015 Valley Fire caused great damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilman Hot Springs</span> Thermal springs in California

Gilman Hot Springs, also known as San Jacinto Hot Springs or the Relief Springs, is a hot spring system in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. Located near Potrero Creek, the San Jacinto River, and California State Route 79, the springs system consists of "about half a dozen" springs named for the Mexican land grant Rancho San Jacinto Viejo.

Politana or Apolitana was the first Spanish settlement in the San Bernardino Valley of California. It was established as a mission chapel and supply station by the Mission San Gabriel in the a rancheria of the Guachama Indians that lived on the bluff that is now known as Bunker Hill, near Lytle Creek. Besides the Guachama, it was also at various times the home for colonists from New Mexico and Cahuilla people. Its most prominent landmark today is the St. Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church on Colton Avenue, just southwest of the Inland Center Mall, in San Bernardino, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seminole Hot Springs, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Seminole Hot Springs is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Seminole Hot Springs is located in the Santa Monica Mountains near Cornell, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) south-southeast of Agoura Hills at an elevation of 932 feet (284 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bimini Baths</span> Los Angeles natatorium (1903–1951)

Bimini Baths was a geothermal mineral water public bathhouse and plunge in what is now Koreatown, Los Angeles, California, US. It was situated just west of downtown, near Third Street and Vermont Avenue. Bimini Baths contained a natatorium, swimming pools, swimming plunge, Turkish baths, a medical treatment department, and bottling works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urbita Lake Railway</span>

The Urbita Lake Railway was a 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) long miniature railway with a gauge of 18 in, which operated from approximately 1910 to at least August 1915 at Urbita Hot Springs park in San Bernardino, California.

Jules Berman was a liquor importer, southern California real estate developer and Pre-Columbian art collector known as "Mr Kahlua".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Wells (San Antonio, Texas)</span> Historic spa

Hot Wells is the site of a cultural historical park in San Antonio, Texas. The park complements Texas' only World Heritage Site—the nearby San Antonio Missions National Historical Park—and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Walk. The park is located on the east side of the San Antonio River, directly across South Presa Street from the San Antonio State Hospital, along the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad and within sight of Mission San José across the river. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the land was originally inhabited by Coahuiltecan peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radium Sulphur Springs</span> Los Angeles, California geothermal spa

Radium Sulphur Springs, located on the north side of Melrose Avenue between Larchmont and Gower Street in Los Angeles, California, U.S., was an early-20th-century hot spring that resulted from an unsuccessful attempt to drill 1,500 feet (460 m) for oil. "Discovered" in 1905 and opened as a spa by G. P. Gehring in 1908, the owners claimed that the water was radioactive, germicidal, and blood purifying. The supposed radioactivity of water was advertised as "liquid sunshine" and was part of the larger radium fad of the early 20th century. The spa was located in Colegrove, an electric-railway stop and associated community just south of Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soboba Hot Springs</span> Geothermal site in California

Soboba Hot Springs are a historic hot springs and resort in Riverside County, California, United States. The springs issued from the side of a steep ravine "with narrow, precipitous sides, and the rock exposed is largely a crushed gneiss...the thermal character of the springs is due to crushing and slipping of the rocks". The Soboba Hot Springs resort was adjacent to the reservation of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians. Soboba means hot water in the Luiseño language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paso Robles Hot Springs</span> Thermal spring system in California

Paso Robles Hot Springs is a system of geothermal hot springs in the area of Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County, California. They were developed in the late 19th and early 20th century.

References

  1. ↑ Higgins, Chris T.; Therberge, Albert E. Jr.; Ikelman, Joy A. (1980). Geothermal Resources of California (PDF) (Map). NOAA National Geophysical Center. Sacramento: California Department of Mines and Geology.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Sears, Jan-Christina (June 2, 1982). "Urbita Springs: San Bernardino's Once and Future Lake". The San Bernardino County Sun. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-12-03. & "Urbita..."
  3. ↑ "Then and Now - Julie Farren" Newspapers.com, The San Bernardino County Sun, February 21, 1994, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-bernardino-county-sun-then-and-n/136193233/
  4. 1 2 Shaw, Steven (2007). San Bernardino. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 24–27. ISBN   978-0-7385-5581-2.
  5. ↑ Gudde, Erwin G. (1998). California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. p. 407. ISBN   978-0-520-26619-3.
  6. ↑ Fine, Robert (1905), Urbita School, [graphic] , retrieved 2023-12-03
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Holladay, Fred (August 30, 1987). "Hot springs history bubbles beneath Inland Center". "Making History" column. The San Bernardino County Sun– via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 Electric Railway Review. 1903. p. 87.
  9. ↑ "Will Become Noted as a Health Resort". The San Bernardino County Sun. May 21, 1901. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  10. 1 2 Transit Journal. 1909. pp. 182–183.
  11. ↑ San Bernardino, 1911, retrieved 2023-12-03
  12. ↑ "Greater Than Ever National Orange Show Opens at Urbita Springs; 10,000 in Attendance". Riverside Daily Press. February 19, 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  13. 1 2 3 Sahagún, Louis (May 20, 1985). "San Bernardino Water Officials Perplexed by Underground Springs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  14. ↑ "Woods-Born Romance Still Blooms In One Heart, At Least, After 8 Years". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. March 26, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  15. 1 2 Waring, Gerald Ashley (January 1915). Springs of California. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 37. doi:10.3133/wsp338. Water Supply Paper No. 338 – via HathiTrust.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.