Moorpark

History

Chumash people were the first to inhabit what is now known as Moorpark. A Chumash village, known as Quimisac (Kimishax), was located in today's Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park. They were hunters and gatherers who often traveled between villages to trade. The village of Quimisac once controlled the local trade of fused shale in the region. The area was later part of the large Rancho Simi land grant given in 1795 to the Pico brothers by Governor Diego de Borica of Alta California. Robert W. Poindexter, the secretary of the Simi Land and Water Company, received the land when the association was disbanded. A map showing the townsite was prepared in November 1900. It was a resubdivision of the large lot subdivision known as Fremont, or Fremontville. An application for a post office was submitted on June 1, 1900, and approved by August of that year. The application noted that the town had a railroad depot. The reactor, called the Sodium Reactor Experiment was built by the Atomics International division of North American Aviation at the nearby Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The Sodium Reactor Experiment operated from 1957 to 1964 and produced 7.5 megawatts of electrical power at a Southern California Edison-supplied generating station. Moorpark College opened on September 11, 1967. Moorpark College is one of the few colleges to feature an exotic animal training and management program. Moorpark was incorporated as a city on July 1, 1983. In 1996, Moorpark's Little League All-Star team represented the West Region in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. In February 2005, a Siberian tiger named Tuffy that escaped from a local residence was shot and killed in one of Moorpark's parks. This created a great uproar, because the animal control officers used a gun…

Geography

Central Moorpark lies in a valley created by the Arroyo Simi river. It is situated on flatlands and mesas at the base of numerous hills. It is located immediately west of Simi Valley, California. The pepper trees that line High Street were planted by Robert Poindexter who was responsible for the plotting and mapping of the town. This area also features the High Street Arts Center (a performing arts center operated by the City of Moorpark), and various restaurants and businesses. * The Peach Hill and Mountain Meadows neighborhoods are south of the Arroyo Simi. Moorpark High School is in this area, as well as many parks, including the Arroyo Vista Community Park and Recreation Center, the city's largest park. This area contains a large part of the city's population as over 75 percent of homes in Moorpark were constructed after 1980 here and in other new projects. |date=August 2010 }} Mountain lions occasionally come down from the hills and wander through the city.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  19,911
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  18,197
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  15,272
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  14,380
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  13,285
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,510
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  12,058
• Allen's Hummingbird

  Selasphorus sasin (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  11,514

Largest nearby schools

• California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles
  Other · Simi Valley · 5,407 students · 28.2:1 ratio
• California Virtual Academy @ San Diego
  Other · Simi Valley · 3,294 students · 28.6:1 ratio
• California Virtual Academy @ San Joaquin
  Other · Simi Valley · 2,561 students · 28.8:1 ratio
• Newbury Park High
  High · Newbury Park · 2,189 students · 21.5:1 ratio
• Westlake High
  High · Westlake Village · 2,083 students · 23.4:1 ratio
• Royal High
  High · Simi Valley · 1,973 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• Adolfo Camarillo High
  High · Camarillo · 1,912 students · 25.2:1 ratio
• Moorpark High
  High · Moorpark · 1,849 students · 26:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.43 — 2026-06-06
  15 km NW of Fillmore, CA
• M 2.93 — 2026-05-26
  8 km S of Malibu Beach, CA
• M 2.57 — 2026-05-25
  13 km SSE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
• M 2.74 — 2026-05-22
  20 km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA
• M 2.66 — 2026-05-19
  4 km W of Manhattan Beach, CA
• M 3.14 — 2026-05-03
  9 km WSW of Grapevine, CA