The area was inhabited by the HEID People about 7,000 years ago, then later by the Chumash. Newbury Park contains many ancient burial sites, most near the Santa Monica Mountains in the Southern portion of the community. Many artifacts have been discovered in the area.
Newbury Park is named after Egbert Starr Newbury, who owned thousands of acres of land in the Conejo Valley in the 1870s John Edwards, Howard Mills and Egbert Starr Newbury bought Rancho El Conejo land. Newbury and his wife Fannie moved to California from Michigan for health reasons in 1871. He became the first postmaster in the Conejo Valley in 1875. The post office was near their house which was located at the current location of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. The historic Stagecoach Inn was used by travelers between Los Angeles in the south and Santa Barbara to the north as a stagecoach station.
Along with Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park was part of a master planned community by the Janss Investment Company. Newbury Park, along with parts of Westlake Village became part of the City of Thousand Oaks sometime between the 1960s and 1970s. Newbury Park was formerly controlled by Ventura County, but after a community vote, all but Casa Conejo became part of Thousand Oaks.
Newbury Park has had an increasing population due to the presence of biotechnology firms and technology corporations of the area, such as Amgen (world headquarters), Baxter, as well as numerous other tech businesses.
The community contains two major new residential areas, Rancho Conejo Village (built on the site of the former Rancho Conejo Airport, where portions of the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World were filmed) and Dos Vientos Ranch. Rancho Conejo Village is still being developed by S&S Homes, while the master planned community of Dos Vientos Ranch has approached build out. The first planned community in Newbury Park is census designated place Casa Conejo, located in a roughly square-shaped unincorporated area, is the only remaining part of Newbury Park not governed by the City of Thousand Oaks.
Real estate prices in Newbury Park have increased over 250% during the last ten years. Median home prices in the area and surrounding communities range from around $700,000 to $2.2 million in parts of the valley. Starting in 2006, real estate prices have started to drop due to the credit crunch affecting mortgage financing. As an example, a newer 2,380 sq ft (221 m2). house in the gated Rancho Conejo community that sold for $880,000 in the summer of 2005 at the peak of the housing boom, would have fetched no more than $790,000 in the summer of 2007, and about $700,000 in mid March 2008.
Education
Newbury Park High School has 2320 students and a newly refurbished multi-sport stadium. Intermediate schools include Sequoia Middle School and the recently constructed Sycamore Canyon School in Dos Vientos Ranch. All are part of the Conejo Valley Unified School District
Timber School, now known as Conejo Valley High School, is the first of the existing schools, having been built in 1924 to replace the first one-roomed schoolhouse that was built in 1889. Recent additions to the school were made in the late 1940s and 1950s. Newbury Park Adventist Academy is the second of the existing schools in Newbury Park, founded in 1947.
- Conejo Valley Unified School District
- Newbury Park High School
- Redwood Middle School
- Sequoia Middle School
- Sycamore Canyon Middle School
- Newbury Park Adventist Academy
- Conejo Adventist Elementary School
- Walnut Elementary School
- Manzanita Elementary School
- Banyan Elementary School
- Cypress Elementary School
- Maple Elementary School