In the 1880s a former sailor named John Frazier dug a well in the area. He began offering his water at a nearby train station and soon the whistle-stop became known as Frazier’s Station.

The water from the well was tested, and it was found to share similarities with water from an European Spa in a town in Bohemia known as Karlsbad. A company by the name of the Carlsbad Land and Mineral Water Company was formed to take advantage of those similarities, and the town was named shortly afterwards, along with marketing to attract customers and visitors.

IN 1952 Carlsbad, California was incorporated to prevent it from being annexed by its neighbor Oceanside.