Way Back When: Veronica Springs Road History

Disappearing trout close a popular park. Image: New York Public Library

By Betsy J. Green

Veronica Springs Road gets its name from a spring in the area that was said to be healthful and medicinal. People visited the spring to drink the water, and the Veronica Springs Company also bottled the water. But in January 1919, the spring was closed to the public because of fish filching. Someone had drained the pond there and had stolen the pet trout.

“The vandalism and thefts completed yesterday has now shut the public out forever unless passes are first obtained.”

Betsy's Way Back When book -- 1918 -- is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the fifth book in her series of the history of Santa Barbara, one year at a time. Learn more at betsyjgreen.com