Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California (Southern California). It is located on California's Pacific coast, and forms the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country. It is ranked as one of the top 100 highest-income counties in the country and as the 6th wealthiest county in California by per capita income. Median Home Prices range from $400,000 to around $2 million. This is partly because it is part of the Tech Coast Area, and has a large presence in technology corporations like telecommunications, healthcare, development, and especially biotech corporations, most of which are located in the Conejo Valley.
As of the 2000 census, the county had a population of 753,197. A more current California Department of Finance estimate places the population at 813,052. The county seat is the city of Ventura (formally known as San Buenaventura). Ventura County's largest city is Oxnard, with a population of about 200,000.
Ventura County, California was formed on 22 March 1872 from Santa Barbara County, California.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in California, the area was home to the Chumash tribe of Native Americans. In October 1542, the expedition that was led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo anchored in an inlet near Point Mugu; its members were the first Europeans to arrive in the area that would become Ventura County.
Active occupation of California by Spain began in 1769. Gaspar de Portolà led a military expedition by land from San Diego to Monterey, passing through Ventura County in August of that year. A priest with the expedition, Father Juan Crespi, kept a journal of the trip and noted that the area was ideal for a mission to be established and it was a "good site to which nothing is lacking." Also on this expedition was Father Junípero Serra, who later founded a mission on this site.
On March 31, 1782, the Mission San Buenaventura was founded by Father Serra, named after Saint Bonaventure. Buenaventura is composed of two Spanish words, buena meaning "good" and ventura meaning "fortune." The town that grew up around the mission is named San Buenaventura, which came to be known as Ventura.
In the 1790s, the Spanish Governor of California began granting land rights to Spanish Californians, often retiring soldiers. These grants were known as ranchos and consisted of thousands of acres of land that were used primarily as ranch land for livestock. By 1822, there were 19 rancho grants in Ventura County.
In 1822, California was notified of Mexico's independence from Spain and the Governor of California, the Junta, the military in Monterey and the priests and neophytes at Mission San Buenaventura swore allegiance to Mexico on April 11, 1822. California land that had been vested in the King of Spain was now owned by the nation of Mexico. By the 1830s, Mission San Buenaventura was in a decline with fewer neophytes joining the mission. The number of cattle owned by the mission dropped from first to fifteenth ranking in the California Missions.
In 1836, Mission San Buenaventura was transferred from the Church to a secular administrator. The natives who had been working at the mission gradually left to work on the ranchos. By 1839, only 300 Indians were left at the Mission and it slipped into neglect. Several outhouses were discovered in July 2007 dating back to the 1800s. They have proved to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts.
The Mexican–American War began in 1846 but its effect was not felt in Ventura County until 1847. In January of that year, Captain John C. Frémont led the California Battalion into San Buenaventura finding that the Europeans had fled leaving only the Indians in the Mission. The Fremont and the Battalion continued south to sign the Treaty of Cahuenga with General Andrés Pico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally transferred California to the United States in 1848.
By 1849, a constitution had been adopted for the California territory. The new Legislature met and divided the pending state into 27 counties. At the time, the area that would become Ventura County was the southern part of Santa Barbara County.
The 1860s brought many changes to the area. A drought caused many of the ranchos to experience financial difficulties and most were divided, sub-divided and sold. Large sections of land were bought by eastern capitalists based on favorable reports of petroleum deposits. A United States Post Office was opened at Mission San Buenaventura in 1861. On April 1, 1866, the town of San Buenaventura was incorporated becoming the first officially recognized town in Ventura County.
On January 1, 1873, Ventura County was officially split from Santa Barbara County, bringing a flurry of change. That same year, a courthouse and wharf were built in San Buenaventura. A bank was opened and the first public library was created. The school system grew, with the first high school opening in 1890.
Other towns were starting in the county. A plan for Port Hueneme was recorded in 1874, and Santa Paula's plan was recorded in 1875. The community of Nordhoff (later renamed Ojai) was started in 1874. Piru, Fillmore and Montalvo were established in 1887. The year 1892 saw Simi (later Simi Valley), Somis, Saticoy and Moorpark. Oxnard was a late-comer, not being established until 1898.
The Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks through San Buenaventura in 1887. For convenience in printing their timetables, Southern Pacific shortened San Buenaventura to Ventura. The Post Office soon followed suit. While the city remains officially known as San Buenaventura, it is more commonly referred to as Ventura.
It had been known that oil existed in Ventura County as far back as the Chumash people, who used tar to make baskets and canoes waterproof. In the 1860s, several attempts were made to harvest the petroleum products under Ventura County but none were financially successful, and the oil speculators eventually changed from oil to land development. In 1913, oil exploration began in earnest, with Ralph Lloyd obtaining the financial support of veteran oil man Joseph B. Dabney. Their first well, named "Lloyd No. 1," was started on January 20, 1914. The well struck oil at 2558 feet but was destroyed when it went wild. Other wells met a similar fate, until 1916, when a deal was struck with the Shell Oil Company. Other deals followed with General Petroleum in 1917 and Associated Oil Company in 1920. At its peak, the Ventura Avenue oilfield was producing 90,000 barrels of oil a day, with annual production of over a million and a half barrels.
In the early hours of the morning of March 13, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending billions of gallons of water rushing through the Santa Clarita Valley, killing 385 people, destroying 1,240 homes and flooding 7,900 acres of land, devastating farm fields and orchards. This was the largest single disaster to strike Ventura County.
Ventura County consists of a number of suburban areas. Starting in the mid-1900s, there was a large growth in population in the East County, moving from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and out into the Conejo and Simi Valleys, which consists of Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Agoura, and parts of Westlake Village belonging to Los Angeles County. The other half of the Conejo Valley, which belongs to Ventura County, consists of Lake Sherwood, Hidden Valley, Oak Park, parts of Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park, which was formerly an unincorporated area that is now the most westerly part of Thousand Oaks. Many working-class white people migrated to this area during the 1960s and 1970s out of East and Central Los Angeles. As a result, there was a large growth in population into the Conejo Valley and into Ventura County through the US 101 corridor. Making the US 101 a full freeway in the 1960s, and the expansions that followed, helped make commuting to Los Angeles easier and opened the way for development westward. The communities that have seen the most substantial development are Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park. Development moved farther down the US 101 corridor and sent population rising in West County cities as well. The largest population growth there has been in Camarillo, Oxnard, and Ventura. Development in the East County and along the US 101 corridor is becoming more rare today, because most of these cities were master-planned cities, such as Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, and are approaching build-out. Although the area still has plenty of open space and land, almost all of it was put aside and mandated never to be developed as part of the master plan of each city. Because of this, its private low-key location, its country feel, and its close proximity to Los Angeles, the Conejo Valley area has become a very attractive place to live. It once had relatively inexpensive real estate, but this has changed due to sharply rising real-estate prices. For example, real estate in Newbury Park has increased in price by over 250% in the last 10 years. Median home prices in the Conejo Valley, for instance, now range from $700,000 to $2.2 million. The Conejo Valley area is one of the most affluent areas in the country.