to travel to San Buenaventura (Ventura, CA) to get their mail, E.S. Newbury took the initiative to establish a local post office and applied to Washington, D.C. On July 16, 1875, the Newbury Park Post Office was established with E.S. Newbury as its first postmaster. The Conejo School District was established in March 1877. At the time, the population was 126 in the Conejo Valley. E.S. Newbury and other residents of the Conejo Valley were unprepared for the 1876–78 drought. There were only six inches of rain in 30 months. The drought devastated Newbury Park and the valley. With no rain, the crops died and natural grasses as well, which were food for the ranchers' sheep. Egbert went bankrupt and decided to move with his family in 1877, and rode with his wagon and family back to Michigan where he ultimately settled in Detroit. On September 28, 1878, the land Egbert once called "Newbury Park" was sold at a sheriff's sale. The post office remained its original name, despite having moved from its original destination, which is why Newbury Park has its name today. Modern history Newbury Park was a more established and older community than Thousand Oaks at the beginning of the 20th century. In the early 20th century, Newbury Park had a few ranches and stores, wedged between Borchard lands to the south and Friedrich land on the north. During the 1940s, Ventu Park behind Newbury Park's main street became a 500-acre real estate development. Lots sold to movie stars and others seeking a rustic retreat. One of the male members of the New York Rothschilds built a large home by Ventu Park and lived in relative seclusion here in the 1940s. Prior to the 1960s, Newbury Park was never incorporated as its own city or municipality, it was unincorporated areas of Ventura County with little development. During the 1950s there were speculations persisting that Ventura County officials refused to allow Newbury Park to expand because of a feud with the would-be developers. Between 1950 and 1970, the Conejo Valley experienced a population boom, and increased its population from 3,000 to 30,000. Many Newbury Park residents did not want to be part of Thousand Oaks, and many residents fought to stop the incorporation in fear of losing the Newbury Park identity. Newbury Park had made failed attempts at creating its own municipality in the early 1960s, not only