Ventura County () is a southern county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The county seat is the city of Ventura, and the largest city in the county is Oxnard.
Ventura County comprises the Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Greater Los Angeles area (Los Angeles–Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area). It is also considered the southernmost county along the California Central Coast.
Two of the Channel Islands are part of the county: Anacapa Island, which is the most visited island in Channel Islands National Park, and San Nicolas Island.
History Indigenous
Ventura County was historically inhabited by the Chumash people, who also settled much of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, with their presence dating back 10,000–12,000 years.Johnson, John R. 1997. Chumash Indians in Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time. Simi Valley, CA: Simi Valley Historical Society. . Page 6.Starr, Kevin. 2007. California: A History. Modern Library Chronicles 23. New York City, NY: Random House Digital, Inc. . Page 13. The Chumash were hunter-gatherers, fishermen, and also traders with the Mojave, Yokuts, and Tongva Indians.Lynne McCall & Perry Rosalind (ed.). 1991. The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. San Luis Obispo, CA: EZ Nature Books. . Page 31. The Chumash are also known for their rock paintings and for their great basketry. Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks has several reconstructed Chumash houses ('apa) and there are several Chumash pictographs in the county, including the Burro Flats Painted Cave in Simi Valley. The plank canoe, called a tomol in Chumash, was important to their way of life. Canoe launching points on the mainland for trade with the Chumash of the Channel Islands were located at the mouth of the Ventura River, Mugu Lagoon and Point Hueneme. This has led to speculations among archeologists of whether the Chumash could have had a pre-historic contact with Polynesians. According to diachronic linguistics, certain words such as tomolo'o (canoe) could be related to Polynesian languages. The dialect of the Chumash language that was spoken in Ventura County was Ventureño.
Several place names in the county have originated from Chumash, including Ojai, which means moon,Harrington, John Peabody. The Papers of John Peabody Harrington in the Smithsonian Institution 1907-1957. Kraus International Publications, 1981, 3.89.66-73. and Simi Valley, which originates from the word Shimiyi and refers to the stringy, thread-like clouds that typify the region.Johnson, John R. 1997. Chumash Indians in Simi Valley: A Journey Through Time. Simi Valley, CA: Simi Valley Historical Society. . Page 8. Others include Point Mugu from the word Muwu (meaning "beach"), Saticoy from the word Sa'aqtiko'y (meaning "sheltered for the wind"), and Sespe Creek from the word S'eqp'e (meaning "kneecap").Lynne McCall & Perry Rosalind (ed.). 1991. The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. San Luis Obispo, CA: EZ Nature Books. . Pages 29–30.
Spanish period
In October 1542, the expedition 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.Arnold L. Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California. Oxnard, CA: M & N, 1979; pp. 3–4.
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 Crespí, 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".Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 6. 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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 8. It is named after Saint Bonaventure, one of the early intellectual founders of the Franciscan order. The town that grew up around the mission was originally named San Buenaventura (and retains the name officially), it has been known as Ventura since 1891.Erwin G. Gudde, California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names, 4th ed., rev. and enlarged by William Bright (University of California Press, 1998), p. 410.
In the 1790s, the Spanish Governor of California began granting land concessions to Spanish Californians who were often retiring soldiers. These concessions were known as ranchos and consisted of thousands of acres of land that were used primarily as ranch land for livestock. In Ventura County, Rancho Simi was granted in 1795 and Rancho El Conejo in 1802.Griggs, Gary B. and Kiki Patsch (2005). Living with the Changing California Coast. University of California Press. Page 399. . Fernando Tico was granted Ojai and part of Ventura by Gov. Alvarado.
Mexican period
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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 11. The missions were secularized by the Mexican government in 1834. The Mexican governors began granting land rights to Mexican Californians, often retiring soldiers. By 1846, there were 19 rancho grants in Ventura County. 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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 12.
Several outhouses dating back to the 1800s were discovered in July 2007, at a site that had been cleared to prepare for development. The area proved to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover artifacts that showed heavy utilization by mission inhabitants, Indians, early settlers and Spanish and Mexican soldiers.
American period 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 to find that the Europeans had fled, leaving only Native Americans in the Mission. 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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, pp. 12–13.
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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 15.
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 what would become Ventura County.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, pp. 16–17.
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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, pp. 22–23.
Other towns were being established in the county. A plan for Hueneme (later Port Hueneme) was recorded in 1874, and Santa Paula's plan was recorded in 1875. Along the banks of the Santa Clara River, the township of New Jerusalem (which would eventually be named El Rio) was founded in 1875 by the owner of general store named Simon Cohen who became its first postmaster and banker in 1882. The community of Nordhoff (later renamed Ojai) was started in 1874.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, pp. 23–24. Bardsdale, Fillmore, Piru, and Montalvo were established in 1887.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, pp. 25–27. 1892 saw Simi (later Simi Valley), Somis, Saticoy, and Moorpark. Oxnard was a latecomer, not being established until 1898.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 27.
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.Murphy, A Comprehensive Story of Ventura County, California, p. 25. The rail line to Northern California originally went through Saugus, Fillmore and Santa Paula, providing a boom to those communities along the line. In 1905, Tunnel #26 was completed between Chatsworth and Corriganville near Simi Valley, shortening the rail route. At a length of , Tunnel #26 was the longest tunnel ever constructed in its day. This tunnel joined to the railroad spur coming the other direction from Montalvo through Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley, making the contemporary main line used today. One stop along the way, at a 90-degree turn, was at a sugar beet processing factory. The factory bore the name of its absentee owners, the Oxnard Brothers. A small community of farm and factory workers grew near the train stop. That community, now bearing the name of the factory shortened to the one word train stop Oxnard, has become the largest city in Ventura County.