[13][14][15] Some of Moorpark's previous unofficial and official names include Epworth, Fremontville, Penrose, Fairview, and Little Simi.

A Chumash village, known as Quimisac (Kimishax), was located in today's Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park.

The village of Quimisac once controlled the local trade of fused shale in the region.

[16][17] The area was later part of the large Rancho Simi land grant given in 1795 to the Pico brothers by Governor Diego de Borica of Alta California.

[18][19] An application for a post office was submitted on June 1, 1900, and approved by August of that year.

Moorpark was then on the main route of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Moorpark was one of the first cities to run on commercial nuclear power in the entire world, and the second in the United States, after Arco, Idaho, on July 17, 1955, which is the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power.

For one hour on November 12, 1957, this fact was featured on Edward R. Murrow's See It Now television show.

The Sodium Reactor Experiment operated from 1957 to 1964 and produced 7.5 megawatts of electrical power at a Southern California Edison-supplied generating station.

In 1996, Moorpark's Little League All-Star team represented the West Region in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.[22] In February 2005, a Siberian tiger named Tuffy that escaped from a local residence was shot and killed in one of Moorpark's parks.

The wife pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor count of failing to maintain records of exotic felines.

The husband pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, making false statements and failing to maintain proper records.

[23] 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.

[24] The fossilized skeleton is believed to be from a 800,000 to 1.4 million years old mammoth, which is estimated to have had a weight of ten tons.

[26][27] In 1961, Julius Goldman founded Egg City, the largest chicken ranch in the United States at the time, located just north of Moorpark.

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 millions of chickens were slaughtered because of the threat of Newcastle disease.

Liquid, dry and shell eggs were processed at the 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) hatchery facility warehouse, with yolk and albumen available individually.

In early December 2006, a wildfire destroyed the dilapidated remains of Egg City.

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

[38] Most of these retail businesses are located along the community's Los Angeles Avenue corridor, with the community's historic downtown area, known as Historic High Street, as a secondary retail hub.

[41] According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[42] the top employers in the city are: A few events are held in the Moorpark area during the year, most notably Moorpark "Country Days", a single day parade and festival in late September or early October, American Civil War battle reenactments in early-November (in 2019 this annual event was cancelled), an "Apricot Festival", usually in the spring or summer, an annual fireworks celebration on the third of July every year, and the Moorpark Film Festival in August.

The "Country Days" parade includes various vendors, entertainment, and family friendly games/crafts.

[43] In August 2019, Moorpark engaged the services of ArtsOC to develop an Arts Master Plan.

[46] The city government operates municipal facilities throughout the community, including the Moorpark City Library, Moorpark Active Adult Center, Arroyo Vista Recreation Center and Community Park, Ruben Castro Human Services Facility, Moorpark Public Services Facility, and the Moorpark Police Services Center, which contains offices for the Ventura County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol.

In this program, students take English and Social Studies classes at the high school level and Math, Science, Foreign Language and other electives at Moorpark College to fulfill the requirements for graduation and the associate degree simultaneously.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement services for the city.

Kings Row (1942) starring Ronald Reagan featured a scene filmed at Spring Road and Los Angeles Avenue.

[56] Scenes from the TV series Super Soul Sunday starring Oprah Winfrey are filmed at Apricot Lane Farms.