Ranched with dairy cattle since the California Gold Rush, the area was named after Fred Swanton, builder of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was the northern terminus of the southern branch of the Ocean Shore Railroad until it closed in 1922. Swanton had its own post office from 1897 to 1930, and its own elementary, Seaside School, until 1960.
In 2009, Swanton was heavily impacted by the Lockheed Fire that burned for two weeks and consumed nearly 8,000 acres (32 km2), forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.[1] It was the first major fire since 1948, $26 million was spent fighting it and it destroyed 13 structures and many millions of dollars of prime timber land, but no houses.
