Newbury Park is named after Egbert Starr Newbury, who owned thousands of acres of land in the Conejo Valley after moving to California from Michigan for health reasons in 1871. Newbury was one of the three largest Conejo Valley landowners of his time. He and his wife Fannie became the first postmasters in the Conejo Valley in 1875. The post office was located in a small compound near their house, which was located at the current location of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.
The other major landowners at that time were John Edwards, who owned much of the current Newbury Park/Thousand Oaks area north of the 101, and Howard Mills, who owned much of what today is Westlake Village and Hidden Valley.
Edwards sold 10,000 acres of what is now central Thousand Oaks to Edwin and Harold Janss in 1893. The Janss Corporation also bought thousands of acres of land in Newbury Park (Friedrich, Running Springs and Borchard Ranches) in 1962.
There were efforts to incorporate Newbury Park in 1961 and 1963 that failed due to a lack of sufficient votes.
Over a 30 month period beginning in the Fall of 1876, only 6 inches of rain fell in the Conejo Valley. This drought brought devastation to landowners, most of whom lost their crops and livestock and had to sell at a loss or went bankrupt. The Newburys were no exception; they moved back to the midwest in 1877. Egbert fell ill to pneumonia in 1880 and passed away at the young age of 36.
The Newburys lived here only six years, so why is it still called Newbury Park? Because the name of the Newburys' post office never changed! The Newbury Park Post Office has changed locations a number of times (including 1602 Newbury Road from May 1968 until it moved to its current location at 3401 Grande Vista Drive in 2013). So the Newbury name and legacy live on here in the Conejo Valley.
