Ponce de Leon Springs (Atlanta)

Ponce de Leon Springs
An engraving of the spring in 1879
Type	Mineral spring
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Coordinates	33°46′20″N 84°22′0″W / 33.77222°N 84.36667°W / 33.77222; -84.36667

Ponce de Leon Springs was a mineral spring in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. The spring was a popular tourist destination from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Around the turn of the century, the land surrounding the spring was developed into an amusement park. By the 1920s, the amusement park was demolished, and the area was developed for industrial and, later, commercial properties.

Residents of Atlanta had known of the spring, which was located about 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of downtown Atlanta, since the early 1800s, though it was not until the mid-1800s that they became a popular tourist area as a local destination spa. The mineral content of the water was thought to provide health benefits to drinkers, and the spring was named in reference to the legend of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León's search for the Fountain of Youth. By the 1870s, there was a streetcar line extending from downtown to the spring, following a route that would later become Ponce de Leon Avenue, one of the city's busiest thoroughfares. In the early 1900s, the spring was sold to developers who created an amusement park on the site, nicknaming it "the Coney Island of Atlanta". By the 1920s, the amusement park's popularity began to wane and the land was eventually sold to Sears, Roebuck and Co., who built their regional distribution and retail headquarters on the site. Today, the building is Ponce City Market, a mixed-use development, and some of the original land that was home to the spring has been developed into the Historic Fourth Ward Park.