One of Ventura County’s oldest buildings is now owned by the public, thanks to an oil company. Chevron donated the historic Union Oil Company building to the City of Santa Paula, along with a major grant to maintain it.
Chevron acquired Union Oil in 2005, and got the downtown Santa Paula building as part of the deal. For three decades, the building was leased to the City of Santa Paula for use as a community museum. But, financial issues led to its permanent closure during the pandemic.
Chevron’s Jeff Moore says the company came up with an idea to preserve the building. The company donated the building, a small adjacent structure, a parking lot, and some historical artifacts to the city. The oil company topped it off with a $2 million grant to maintain the 133 year-old building.
The city is in the process of developing a plan on how to use the historic building to best serve the community.
