Round Town • Paso Robles Area Historical Society and Museum
By Camille DeVaul and the Paso Robles Area Historical Society and Museum
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s far back as 1795, the Paso Robles area has been referred to as “California’s oldest watering place.” The notion comes from its abundance of thermal hot springs and mud baths. And if that was not enough, for thousands of years, Native Americans believed in the curative properties of the area’s sulfur, soda, mineral, iron, lithium, mud, and sand springs. Several springs and baths were frequented by Paso Robles visitors. The Main Sulpher Spring was located at what is now 10th and Spring Street and the Mud Bath Springs were about 2.5 miles north of that. Patrons of the springs would reach them by a horse-drawn streetcar line. About half a mile from the Mud Springs was the Sand Spring near the banks of the Salinas River. One hundred feet. Then the Soda Spring was 100 feet north of the Mud Spring, the Lithium Spring was adjacent to the Mud Bath’s bathhouse, and the Iron Spring was northwest of the Mud Springs bathhouses. The summers in the Paso Robles area can get mighty hot, and sitting in the thermal waters certainly was not a way to cool off. The Paso Robles Community pool originated in the mid-1920s as part of the Paso Robles Auto Camp. It was described as “one of the deluxe camps.” During the summer months, local children who attended the Paso Robles Recreation Program were allowed to go swimming for a nickel. In 1937, Stewart J. and his wife Ella Bryant bought the Paso Robles Auto Court on Spring Street between 9th and 10th streets. The purchase included the old plunge, which at the time was in a declining state as the heating system had died and the filtering system was questionable. Upgrades were made, and it became a trendy place to gather for adults and children, operating as a public swimming pool. During World War II, the plunge was operated by the USO, and civilians were not allowed to use the pool. In 1946, the Bryants sold the property. The buyer then sold the plunge
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to the City of Paso Robles, who operated it for several years. The 1950s brought many happy memories surrounding the plunge. There were swim lessons, swim teams, synchronized swimming, and simple, old-fashioned fun. However, the plunge was closed in 1959 by the county health inspectors when the City decided the necessary repairs and upkeep were too costly. Another popular swimming hole was located about four miles west of Paso Robles off 24th Street, known as Nacimiento Lake Road. Just west of where the Jardine Ranch, now known as Resthaven, sat “The Family Playground.” Located at the junction of Nacimiento Lake Road and Adelaide Road, it was the home of John Irving and his wife, Minnie Dellie Lomax McCord, and their four daughters. Around 1943, John McCord built a 160-foot cemented swimming pool with an ice-cold stainless steel water slide with a separate wading pond and playground for children. It was surrounded by large oak trees and grassy areas. Many described it as a “fun pool that McCord built free form along an old stream bed.” Admission to the grounds was 25 cents, but no charge for swimming. They advertised spinner rafts, floats, lawn and shade, barbeque pits and tables, and two acres of campgrounds. The McCords made an overhead entry sign to their acreage from manzanita wood branches that were shaped to read “Resthaven.” The property was sold multiple times, and eventually, the pool was filled in with the acreage converted into a mobile home park. The El Paso de Robles Area Historical Society and Museum are honored to be located in the historic Carnegie Library at the center of City Park. To learn more, visit pasorobleshistorymuseum.org.
Paso Robles Magazine | June 2022
5/25/22 11:29 PM