Camarillo

Camarillo is named for Adolfo Camarillo, one of the few Californios (pre-1851 California natives of Spanish ancestry) to retain his holdings after the arrival of Anglo settlers. As with most cities in Ventura County, it is noted for its resistance to urban sprawl. Some of the most desirable land in the city limits, located on the north and south sides of the Ventura Freeway, is permanently zoned for agricultural use. Recently, however, the city has seen a great deal of growth that has been decried by area residents as environmentally destructive and not well enough planned. It is also home to the Ventura County, California Sheriff's Department Academy.

The Chumash Indians were the first known settlers in what is now known as Ventura County. Fishermen, they built their villages along the Pacific Coast near the mouths of the Calleguas Creek and Santa Clara River. Artifacts from their settlements are on display in the Ventura County Historical Museum and their paintings are still visible on canyon walls and in caves in the area.

The Portugues navigator Juan Cabrillo, while exploring the Pacific coast for the king of Spain, came upon the Chumash in an area near Point Mugu. He explored the surrounding region and claimed it in the name of Spain in 1542. Cabrillo was followed in 1602 by Sebastian Viscaino on a mapping expedition for the King of Spain. The Chumash continued to inhabit the coast until 1768 when Russians, having established a settlement 800 miles to the north, launched expeditions challenging the Spanish land claims. In the 1700s the Spanish began settling California and built the first of what would become a chain of 21 missions in San Diego. Father Junípero Serra establish the ninth mission in Ventura in 1782 bringing more settlers to the area and exposing the Indians who had settled around the mission to many European diseases to which they had no immunity. Their numbers diminished until the Chumash, once the largest Indian nation in California, had largely vanished by 1839.

By the early 1820s, Mexico had gained independence from Spain and shortly afterward California allied itself with Mexico. The Mexican land grant system was liberalized in 1824 resulting in many large grants in California and the proliferation of Ranchos north of the border. One grant to Jose Ruis created the Rancho Calleguas in 1847, in the area that is now Camarillo. The grant was later sold to Juan Camarillo and it was his sons, Adolfo and Juan, who are credited with the founding of the town that was to bear their name. The earlier proposed name of Calleguas was rejected as too difficult to pronounce.

At about same time the town of Springville had begun to form just to the west of the emerging town of Camarillo but when the Southern Pacific railroad was built and chose Camarillo as the location for a depot, Springville's existence was threatened. It is now only a dot on the map in an area south of the freeway at the western end of he current Camarillo city limits.

Camarillo's growth was slow from founding through World War II. In the late 1940s building lots on Ventura Boulevard, the main downtown street, were being offered for $450 and home lots on the adjoining streets were $250, with few buyers. Travel to and from Los Angeles was difficult, owing to the narrow, tortuous road climbing the Conejo Grade to the east of the city.

The main industry during this period was agriculture, and the area surrounding the small town was blanketed with orange, lemon and walnut groves. The State Mental hospital south of the town was the largest employer. A few houses had sprung up to the north and south of town center. The Oxnard Airforce Base, built during WWII to the west of town, the Navy Facility at Point Mugu and the Seabee base at Port Hueneme brought many service personnel to the area, but there was little private industry or other sources of non-agricultural employment.

In the middle 1950s the Ventura Freeway, which bisected the town, was completed from L.A. to points north making it an easy one hour trip to Camarillo. The freeway was originally planned to follow the path of Potrero Road, south of Camarillo, which would have competely by-passed the soon to be city. However, after much debate, "city officials" persuaded Cal Trans to lay the freeway parallel to Ventura Blvd, creating the infamously steep decent from the Santa Monica Mountain Range, known as the Conejo Grade. The completion of the freeway facilitated the growth that followed. In 1962 the population was 7500 and 3M began construction for the Mincom and Magnetic Tape Divisions, which would ultimately employ 900 people, becoming the largest local employer. Housing tracts were built where orchards once stood. House prices were $14,000 to $65,000.

At this time plans were made for the incorporation of the city in to control the rapid expansion. Camarillo became a city in 1964 and soon put into place a General Plan and building codes that were to lead to an attractive city environment. In 1964 the closest traffic signal was 2 miles from the City center on the road to Point Mugu, and the first shopping center and supermarket were under construction. Much of the city was expected to be developed to the south of Ventura Blvd, however it was to the north that the new city grew, and the land south of Ventura Blvd remains reserved for agricultural use to this day.

Many of the home buyers during the 1960s were from the military veterans, who had been stationed at one of the local bases during their service. The temperate climate and the living conditions lured them back. With the establishment of both the Pacific Missile Range and the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory at Port Hueneme many found employment that utilized their military training. Other newcomers were those who worked and lived in the San Fernando Valley and were willing to endure the commute for the opportunity to raise their families in a smog-free, semirural environment. Still others relocated here with their employers, like 3M, who were now building facilities in and around the city to take advantage of the large workforce.