Nearby cold springs on Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest are the original source and namesake of Arrowhead water.

[2] The first documented reference by Europeans to Arrowhead springs (Agua Caliente) was in records of priests stationed at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, around 1820.

David Noble Smith was the founder of the first sanitarium facilities at Arrowhead Springs in 1863, which were used to treat patients with tuberculosis and numerous other ailments.

The water was transported from Arrowhead Springs, north of San Bernardino, California, to Los Angeles in glass-lined railroad tank cars.

The Arrowhead Beverage Company was the bottler for many different brands of water and soft drinks including seltzer, fruit-flavored soda, and ginger ale.

In 1932, another important development for the company happened in the Los Angeles area, as it was named the official water refreshment of that year's Olympic Games, held at the City of the Stars.

Southern Californian newspaper The Desert Sun investigated Nestlé's bottling activities in 2015 and published findings that the water company had been operating in the San Bernardino National Forest without a permit since its last one expired in 1988.