Though still commonly referred to as Churruca or Surruco, the name for the municipality and canton of Santa Bárbara was first mentioned in documents from 1821.

[4] The area of the current plaza in Santa Bárbara was the approximate center of the four districts in the region and a small hermitage was built there in 1837.

[4] In 1859, Monseñor Joaquín Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente, the bishop of San José, began construction of a cathedral in its current location.

The district of Santa Bárbara was officially formed in December 1848 as a church parish, recognized by the national government.

[3] Santa Bárbara's first public school opened in 1860 with cobbler Tomás Redondo giving the first lessons.

A hydroelectric plant was built along the Porrosatí River, on the border of the districts of Santa Bárbara and San Juan in 1914.

[9] There are plans to improve the district's agricultural market, located two blocks north of the central plaza.

In 2014, municipal workers went on strike[11] Albino Vargas, president of the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos (National Association of Public Employees) joined the strike, saying that workers had been abandoned by Alfaro Salas, a charge he denied.

[11] There is a chapter of the Consejo de la Persona Joven (Council of Young People) in Santa Bárbara.

The elementary school in the municipality of Santa Bárbara is named after former head of state Juan Mora Fernández.

[5] The high school, Liceo de Santa Bárbara, was established in 1973 using the facilities at Juan Mora Fernández, but it later moved to a location 800 meters from the central plaza.

[18] Players from ASBAVOL regularly play for the Costa Rica women's national volleyball team.

[20] Beginning in 1943, Club Sport Barbareño represented Santa Bárbara in the first division of the national soccer league.

[22] It currently plays in the third division at the Carlos Alvarado Villalobos Stadium in Santa Bárbara, which holds 1,500 spectators.

[23] Players such as Abdulio Jiménez Araya,[24] and goalie Carlos "El Aguilucho" Alvarado played with Asociación Deportiva Barbareña and Deportivo Machado F.C.