Now only referred to as a Township within Lincoln County, North Carolina, the original village named Catawba Springs was apparently a cultural and social hotspot prior to the American Civil War, complete with a Spa Hotel and many other amenities. First named Reed's Springs after its founder Captain John Reed (aka John Reid) of the Revolutionary War, Catawba Springs was a very well known resort area in antebellum times, visited by many. Possibly first established right after the American Revolution, Catawba Springs shows up on maps beginning in the late 1790s, a more likely timeframe for a village to arise around the natural springs of the area.

The US Post Office Department granted Catawba Springs its first Post Office on January 1, 1801, and its first Postmaster was Mr. John Reid. This PO closed down on January 16, 1838, reason unknown. On October 5, 1838, the second Post Office for Catawba Springs was established at what had previously been a town named Beatties Ford, a few miles west of the first location for Catawba Springs. Beatties Ford had had a PO since 1806, so this was not just a reopening of an old PO at the old Catawba Springs, it was an actual renaming of an old town or village with a new name - a name that was well known.

This second Catawba Springs was considered by the US Post Office Department to be in Catawba County in 1842 when the county was first created, but apparently this was an error and by 1845 the US Post Office Department realigned their records to clearly show that Catawba Springs was properly back in Lincoln County. The move was just on paper and certainly a mistake by someone. The second Catawba Springs PO was in continuous operation from the renaming in 1838 until March 9, 1869, when it closed permanently.

Apparently, the returning soldiers from the Civil War no longer felt like going to a resort town and living the high life, and the town of Catawba Springs faded into oblivion. The closest current town would be Denver, in northeastern Lincoln County.

There is a golf community known as Lake Hickory Country Club just south of Denver, NC and it acknowledges the name of Catawba Springs in its website as of November 2015.