Chain of Ownership, Pre-Period of Significance:

Rancho El Río de Santa Clara o La Colonia’ was granted in 1837 by Alta California Governor Juan B. Alvarado to eight Mexican Soldiers from the Santa Barbara Presidio (Valentine Cota, Salvador Valenzuela, Vicente Pico, Rafael Valdez, Vincent Feliz, Leandro Gonzales, and Rafael Gonzales). Specifically, Rafael Gonzalez—a former mission administrator and later the alcalde of Santa Barbera—was the owner of the site, which was his portion of the 44,883-acre Mexican land grant—he used the land for cattle. 

Juan Camarillo, a member of the Hijar (1834) expedition that included another longtime county pioneer, Jose Maria Covarrubias, acquired the land from Rafael Gonzalez in 1865. 

Chain of Ownership, Period of Significance:

In 1867, German immigrants Gottfried Maulhardt, Jacob Maulhardt and Caspar Borchard arrived with their families in California. They met up with Christian Borchard, who arrived in California during the Gold Rush era. After floods destroyed his land in San Joaquin Valley in 1866, Christian Borchard traveled south to Santa Barbara County, soon to be divided into two counties including Ventura County in 1873. Here he purchased 1,000 acres from Jose Lobero. Gottfried and Caspar leased land on the Colonia Rancho from Juan Camarillo. Christian, along with his son, John Edward “Ed” Borchard, Caspar & Gottfried planted the first commercial crop, barley, on what became the Oxnard Plain.  

Gottfried Maulhardt acquired 410-acres as his portion of a joint purchase of 1,230.31-acres by Johannes Borchard, Jacob Maulhardt, and himself from Juan Camarillo on December 26, 1872.  Being of Catholic faith, the Maulhardts and Borchards became acquainted with Camarillo at the Ventura Mission. Juan Camarillo became the Godfather of Jacob Maulhardt’s son and was named after Juan’s son by taking on the baptized name of Adolfo Maulhardt. He later became the Ventura County’s first county Health officer as Dr. A. A. Maulhardt.

Also, by 1872, Gottfried Maulhardt, who was trained as a master craftsman/brick mason in Germany, began constructing his home. Soon after and by 1876, Gottfried built a two-story brick winery/storehouse building with a small living space on top. For bottom basement section he stored the wine for the Santa Clara Chapel that was completed in 1877. An 1879 Ventura Signal article pointed out that Gottfried grew “A small vineyard 250 grapevines of the choicest varieties.” By 1875 Gottfried Maulhardt sold 205 acres to Caspar Borchard. In 1887, Hiram K. Snow purchased 171-acres from Gottfried for $17,141—though Gottfried did retain a 16-foot wide road leading to the old Conejo Road (now the 1010 Freeway) that led t0 the Santa Clara Parish Chapel. 

Sophie Maulhardt continued to own the land upon her husband Gottfried’s passing in December 1898 and kept it until she sold it in 1905. 

In 1905, Louis Pfeiler—an immigrant from Austria/Hungary, began farming the Oxnard Plain 1870s, purchased the 30-acre site from Sophie Maulhardt as a wedding gift for his son Albert Pfeiler. Albert farmed and maintained the property until, following tradition, he gifted the property to his son Robert “Bob” Pfeiler for his wedding on December 5, 1937. Bob Pfeiler farmed and maintained the property until his death in 2002.

With the death of Bob Pfeiler, the Pfeiler family sold the 46-acre ranch to John Laing Homes for development. 

Previously, Jeffrey Maulhardt, had discussed with Bob Pfeiler about preserving the Maulhardt Winery and the farmhouse. However, with Bob’s passing, Jeff put the landmark status on hold and which allowed the family to sell the land without the impediment of a historical landmark interfering with the sell. By approaching the developer, Jeff offered to create a win-win situation for the family, developer and the community. He formed the Oxnard Historic Farm Park Foundation in 2003 to develop the site surrounding the old buildings. The 0.86-acres was donated to the City of Oxnard and the city leased the land back to the Foundation in 2007. 

On January 6th, 2022, the Oxnard Historic Farm Park Foundation purchased the site from the City of Oxnard. 

Today, the site (Ventura County Landmark No. 165 – Gottfried Maulhardt/Albert Pfeiler Farm Site) is known as the Oxnard Historic Farm Park, which is owned and operated by the Oxnard Historic Farm Park Foundation whose purpose is to restore and preserve the two oldest remaining structures on the Oxnard Plain dating back to the 1870s, as well as creating displays for vintage farm equipment, growing garden plots of crops from the past, and creating a home for Oxnard History where the community can gather for public and private events.