Betteravia (from

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

" sugar beet roots") was a community in northern

Santa Barbara County, California Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

on Betteravia Road, six miles west of Santa Maria. It is notable as a rare

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

on the

Central Coast of California The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and includes the rugged, undevelop ...

History

Betteravia was a

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

founded on the former Rancho Punta de Laguna around the turn of the 20th century and existed for nearly ninety years. The Union Sugar Refining Company established a sugar beet farm here in 1897. At one time this community supported a population of 350 residents, the vast majority of whom were employed by the Union Sugar Company, now a part of

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...

. The community consisted of 65 cottages, a hotel, a church, a schoolhouse, a post office, an amusement hall, a general store, a gasoline station, and a fire department. Housing consisted of small cottages, larger 2-3 bedroom homes, a larger superintendents home, and a very large plant managers home complete with fish ponds and an aviary. Housing was determined by plant seniority. It was common for employees to move to better housing within the community as they gained more responsibility in the plant. The

Pacific Coast Railway The Pacific Coast Railway was a narrow gauge railway on the Central Coast of California. The original 10-mile (16 km) link from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach and Port Harford was later built southward to Santa Maria and Los Olivos, with ...

built an electrified line from Santa Maria to Betteravia in 1906. In the early 1960s, the Union Sugar Company decided it no longer wanted to maintain the increasingly old infrastructure of the community and gave notice to all residents to evacuate. The homes were sold for an average of $50 each. Most of the homes were bought by their renters and moved, and some were bought by other individuals. However, some residents remained until 1966 when the company closed the town and finally evicted the remaining residents. On March 8, 1988, the

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the w ...

plant, then owned by Imperial Holly (now known as Imperial Sugar), suffered a dust explosion and fire which resulted in the injury of eight employees, seven critically. Following the closure of Imperial Holly's Betteravia sugar plant here in 1993, Betteravia became a

with many vacant and demolished buildings.Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum
/ref> On September 8, 2008, the

Santa Maria Valley Railroad The Santa Maria Valley Railroad is a shortline railroad that interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad's (former Southern Pacific) Coast Line at Guadalupe, California. As of 2006, the Railroad is owned by the Coast Belle Rail Corporation. Tr ...

moved its corporate office and yard operations to the former Union Sugar site. The SMVRR had redeveloped the site and it is now the Betteravia Industrial Park, providing transload operations to rail freight customers not located on a rail line. Some of the buildings are being renovated, others and the old townsite is being preserved. The SMVRR has since moved its headquarters to 1599 'A' Street. A former Union Sugar

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

Tender Saddle-Tank steam locomotive '1' is on Static display at the SMAT centre. The Tender is believed to have been scrapped for the war effort during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The location is behind the old Hancock engine shops and is operated by the Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum. Other displays include a

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

speeder, a former wooden

Caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, dam ...

, a

Sacramento Northern The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN) was a electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the California capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oak ...

Boxcar A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

, and a signal, all on Static Display.

References

External links

Guide to the records for the Betteravia Plant, 1898-1928
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

{{Coord, 34, 55, 04, N, 120, 30, 54, W, type:city_region:US-CA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Former settlements in Santa Barbara County, California Ghost towns in California Company towns in California