Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Moorpark, CA

Moorpark is a city in Ventura County, California, founded in 1900 by Robert W. Poindexter and incorporated as a city on July 1, 1983.

Moorpark was most likely named after the Moorpark apricot, which once grew throughout the valley — the apricot flower still appears on the city's seal and flag — and the fruit itself was named for the Moor Park estate in Hertfordshire, England.

Poindexter received the land for the original townsite in 1887 when the Simi Land Company was disbanded; the valley had earlier been part of Rancho Simi, an 1795 Spanish land grant to the Pico brothers, and was originally inhabited by the Chumash people.

Moorpark grew after 1904, when a 7,369-foot railroad tunnel was completed through the Santa Susana Mountains and the Southern Pacific Railroad established a depot in town.

Moorpark was one of the first cities in the world — and the second in the United States, after Arco, Idaho — to run on commercial nuclear power, supplied by an experimental reactor in the nearby Santa Susana Mountains.

Moorpark exploded in size after incorporation, growing from just over 4,000 residents in 1980 to over 25,000 by 1990, a roughly 500% increase that made it one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.

Moorpark had a population of 36,284 at the 2020 census, with about 11,196 households averaging 3.20 people each.

About 79% of Moorpark's homes are owner-occupied, and the median value of an owner-occupied home is about $894,300.

Moorpark College, a public community college that opened on September 11, 1967, is one of the few colleges in the country with an Exotic Animal Training and Management program, and it operates a teaching zoo on its 150-acre campus.

A public high school for juniors and seniors, The High School at Moorpark College, opened on the college campus in 2000, separate from Moorpark High School.