Springtown (formerly, Confederate Corners) is an unincorporated community in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

History

Originally Springtown or Spring Town, the place was named Confederate Corners after some Southerners settled there in the late 1860s. The early settlement included a general store and a wagon-making factory. In the 1960s, it was considered that the community should become a retirement community. The place is the inspiration for the fictional small town "Rebel Corners" in

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's novel '' The Wayward Bus''. It is located south-southwest of Salinas, at the corner of

California State Route 68 State Route 68 (SR 68) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, located entirely in Monterey County. It runs from Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove to U.S. Route 101 in Salinas. The approximately long highway serves as a majo ...

and Hitchcock Road.

Name change

In 2017 a local campaign was started to rename the area. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted in support of the name change. In 2018, the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

approved changing the name to Springtown in reference to Francis and John Spring who had moved in the 1800s to Monterey County from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. The name "Confederate Corners" was rarely used or known among locals, and the area had no signs displaying the name.

Government

At the county level, Springtown is represented on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Jane Parker. In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legisla ...

, Springtown is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, Springtown is in .

References

* https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:0::NO:3:P3_FID,P3_TITLE:221451,Springtown Unincorporated communities in Monterey County, California Salinas Valley Unincorporated communities in California {{MontereyCountyCA-geo-stub