Moorpark, California

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City of Moorpark
Motto: "Life Can be this good."
Location in Ventura County and the state of California
Coordinates: 34.280°16′52″N -118.889°52′25″W / 34.56111, 118.01539
Country	United States
State	California
County	Ventura
Founded	1887
Incorporated (city)	1983-07-01[1]
Government
- Mayor	Patrick Hunter[2]
- Senate	Tom McClintock (R)
- Assembly	Audra Strickland (R)
- U. S. Congress	Elton Gallegly (R)
Area
- Total	70.61 sq mi (70.61 km²)
- Land	70.58 sq mi (70.58 km²)
- Water	0.03 sq mi (0.03 km²)
Elevation	515 ft (157 m)
Population (2000)[3]
- Total	32,978
- Density	467.3/sq mi (467.3/km²)
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
Zip Code	93021 (General Delivery), 93020 (P.O. Box)[4]
Area code(s)	805[5]
FIPS code	06-49138
GNIS feature ID	1652754
Website: http://www.ci.moorpark.ca.us/

Moorpark is a city of 37,342 people, in Southern California. It was founded in 1900 by Robert Poindexter, presumably named after the moorpark apricots that grew in the area. The city has experienced a great amount of growth since the late 1970s.

Contents 1 The Name 2 History 3 City Divisions and Neighborhoods 4 Transportation 5 Geography 5.1 Climate 6 Demographics 7 Moorpark High School 8 Trivia 9 Egg City 10 Miscellaneous 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

[edit] The Name

The origin of the name "Moorpark" is not known, but several sources have been suggested. However, most sources agree that its origin was Admiral Lord Anson's estate Moor Park in Hertfordshire where he introduced the apricot in 1688.^[6].^[7].^[8]. It is mainly believed that the city of Moorpark is named after the Moorpark Apricot, which used to grow in the area. This was confirmed by Robert Poindexter, the founder of Moorpark, in 1927. One other theory of the name is that when the Southern Pacific Railroad was surveying the local land in the 1800s for its railway, someone in the party said that the area, with its sloping hills, looked like the Scottish Moors. Hence the name Moorpark.

[edit] History

The valley where Moorpark is located was originally inhabited by the Chumash. The area was part of the large Rancho Simi land grant given in 1795 to the Pico brothers (Javier, Patricio, and Miguel) By Governor Diego de Borica of Alta California.

Moorpark was founded in 1900 by Robert W. Poindexter. The town grew after the 1904 completion of a 7,369-foot (2,246 m) tunnel through the Santa Susana Mountains, which allowed the Southern Pacific Railroad to establish a depot there, a depot which lasted until 1964.

In 1963, Moorpark College was founded. Moorpark College opened on September 11, 1967. Moorpark College is one of the few colleges that features an Exotic Animal Training and Management Program.

Twenty years later, Moorpark was incorporated as a city on July 1, 1983.

In February 2005, a tiger named Tuffy who escaped from a local residence was shot and killed in one of Moorpark's parks. This created a great deal of uproar, because the Animal Control officers used a gun instead of a Tranquilizer to kill the tiger, primarily because the tiger could not be shot from the proper angle for a Tranquilizer to prove effective. Candlelight Vigil memorials were held for the late Tuffy. As of 2006 the family who owned the tiger was on trial for not having permits and proper caging for Tuffy.

Just a month later, in March 2005, the fairly complete remains (about 75%) of an unusually old mammoth, possibly the rare Southern mammoth (Mammuthus meridionalis), were discovered in the foothills of Moorpark at the site of a housing development.

In 2006, the Moorpark city council seceded from the Ventura County library system to create their own city library system, much like nearby Thousand Oaks.

On February 28, 2006 a housing proposal, North Park Village, which would have added 1,680 houses on 3,586 acres (15 km²) in the north-east area of the city, was defeated by a landslide in a city election.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] City Divisions and Neighborhoods

• The city is divided by the Arroyo Simi river, and generally the area north of the river, containing Old Town Moorpark and Campus Park, is somewhat older than the area south of the river.

• "Old Town Moorpark" is the area surrounding High Street, and is the historic center of the city. A feature of the downtown area are the pepper trees that line High Street, planted by Robert Poindexter who was responsible for the plotting and mapping of the town. This area also features shops and restaurants.

• The Peach Hill and Mountain Meadows neighborhoods are south of the Arroyo Simi, and most of the homes here were built within the last 30 years. Moorpark High School is in this area, as well as many parks, including the Arroyo Vista Park and Recreation Center, the city's largest park. This area contains a large part of the city's population.

• Campus Park is a more prosperous area that is dominated by Moorpark College. An additional substantial development is occurring to the north of the existing city, in the area of the Moorpark Country Club.

• Moorpark was also one of the first cities to run off nuclear power in the entire world, and the first in the United States. For one hour on November 12, 1957 this fact was featured on Edwin. R Murrow's "See it Now" television show. ^[9] The reactor was built by Southern California Edison and Atomics International and was in operation from April, 1957 to February 1964 and produced a maximum of 7.5 MegaWatts to the local power grid. ^[10]

[edit] Transportation

See also: Moorpark (Amtrak station)

• The city is serviced by Amtrak intercity and Metrolink commuter rail, with a train station located on High Street, in the center of the city.

• The city of Moorpark has a mass transit bus system, known as the Moorpark City Transit.

• The city is crossed by State Route 23, and State Route 118. the 23 north at this point transitions from a freeway to a two lane highway as it leaves Moorpark, heading for Fillmore. The same transition occurs with the 118 westbound, heading towards Ventura.

[edit] Geography

Moorpark is located at 34°16'52" North, 118°52'25" West (34.281056, -118.873561).^[11]

Central Moorpark lies in a valley created by the Arroyo Simi river.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.9 km² (19.3 mi²). 49.3 km² (19.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.30% water.

	Santa Paula	Fillmore SR 23		v • d • e
	Somis Ventura SR 118		Simi Valley SR 118
		Moorpark
	Camarillo Oxnard SR 118, SR 34	Thousand Oaks SR 23	Los Angeles U.S. 101 via SR 23 I-5 via SR 118

[edit] Climate

Weather averages for Moorpark, California
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average high °F (°C)	68 (20)	69 (21)	70 (21)	74 (23)	74 (23)	78 (26)	81 (27)	82 (28)	81 (27)	78 (26)	73 (23)	69 (21)
Average low °F (°C)	41 (5)	42 (6)	43 (6)	46 (8)	49 (9)	53 (12)	56 (13)	57 (14)	55 (13)	50 (10)	44 (7)	41 (5)
Precipitation inches (mm)	4.18 (106.2)	4.65 (118.1)	3.57 (90.7)	0.80 (20.3)	0.30 (7.6)	0.05 (1.3)	0.01 (0.3)	0.08 (2)	0.32 (8.1)	0.52 (13.2)	1.45 (36.8)	2.48 (63)
Source: The Weather Channel.[12] September 2008

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[13] of 2000, there are 31,416 people in the city, organized into 8,994 households and 7,698 families. The population density is 637.7/km² (1,651.9/mi²). There are 9,094 housing units at an average density of 184.6/km² (478.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 74.42% White, 5.63% Asian, 1.52% African American, 0.47% Native American, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 13.95% from other races, and 3.87% from two or more races. 27.81% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 8,994 households out of which 54.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.0% are married couples living together, 9.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 14.4% are non-families. 9.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 2.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.49 and the average family size is 3.71.

In the city the population is spread out with 34.2% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 4.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 99.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $76,642, and the median income for a family is $78,909. Males have a median income of $55,535 versus $35,790 for females. The per capita income for the city is $25,383. 7.0% of the population and 4.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 8.6% of those under the age of 18 and 7.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

[edit] Moorpark High School

Main article: Moorpark High School

• The Moorpark High School mascot is the Musketeer.

• The Academic Decathlon team of Moorpark High School has a tradition of success. They have won the national championship three times in the past nine years and in 2008 set the record for the highest team score in history.

• Moorpark High School's football team lost 51 consecutive games to Carpinteria High School, a national record that ended in 1997 en route to the school's first football CIF championship. The two teams have not played since.

[edit] Trivia

• Moorpark's Little League won the Western Regional Championships in 1996.^{[citation needed]}

• A few events are held in the Moorpark area during the year, most notably Moorpark "Country Days", a single day in late September or early October, American Civil War battle reenactments in early-November, an "Apricot Festival", usually in the Spring or Summer, and an annual fireworks celebration on July 3 every year. The July 3 fireworks are popular around the rest of Ventura County, as people can go to the Moorpark fireworks on the 3, and see their own local city's fireworks on July 4. The rock band Jefferson Starship played at a previous Moorpark 3 July fireworks celebration.^[when?]

• Many television shows, movies, and even a few music videos have had short clips filmed on Moorpark's High Street. Its historical charm has compelled some filmmakers and other notable people to film there. Most notably Weird Al Yankovic's "Amish Paradise"^{[citation needed]} was filmed there.

[edit] Egg City

In 1961, Julius Goldman founded Egg City, which was a massive chicken farm north of Moorpark, with many chicken coops spread over acres of concrete with millions of chickens in them. The main building had a giant chicken statue on the top of it. Local residents were somewhat irked by the farm, when the smell of it wafted to Moorpark on windy days. The business suffered a setback in 1972, when more than 3 million chickens were slaughtered because of the threat of Newcastle disease. The farm finally closed in 1996. In early December 2006, a wildfire destroyed the dilapidated remains of Egg City.

[edit] Miscellaneous

A supposed "supernatural" spot is located in the old section of Moorpark, known as "Gravity Hill". In this spot, if one puts their car in neutral, the vehicle will appear to roll backwards up the hill. An additional myth claims that if baby powder is applied to the car hood, handprints will appear, as though some figure is pushing the car up the hill.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Moorpark College
• Moorpark High School
• State Route 23
• State Route 118
• Chaparral Middle School (Moorpark)
• Mesa Verde Middle School (Moorpark)
• Moor Park (house) Origin of the apricot

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official city website
• History of Moorpark, from its Chamber of Commerce
• Moorpark @ The Official Conejo Valley Website, a Web site with local history, events, and community information.
• http://www.moorparkhistorical.com/

• Moorpark, California is at coordinates 34°16′52″N 118°52′25″W / 34.281056, -118.873561 (Moorpark, California)Coordinates: 34°16′52″N 118°52′25″W / 34.281056, -118.873561 (Moorpark, California)
• Mammoth remains unearthed
• Mammoth's skeleton uncovered
• Ventura Star, July 23, 2006 article about weird Ventura County, including an article about Egg City.
• [1] October 20, 2006 article about the High Street haunting.
• Moorpark Field Hockey
• Radio Host John Gibson Gives a Big Shout Out to The City of Moorpark and its Citrus
• [2]

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