In the fall of 1874, the Lompoc Valley Land Company, a joint stock company formed under the auspices of the California Immigrant Union, founded the town of Lompoc. The prime mover behind this enterprise was a transplanted New Yorker named W. W. Broughton.
Broughton, lawyer and journalist, arrived in California in 1859. A teetotaler, Broughton had dreams of beginning a liquor-free community. Broughton headed a small committee to seek out a suitable site and settled upon the Lompoc Valley.
The derivation of the name “Lompoc” is a little unclear. Most likely, it is a form of a Chumash word meaning “lake.” During the Mexican era, the valley formed part of two land grant ranchos, Lompoc and Mision Vieja de la Purísima. In 1863, a partnership consisting of brothers William Welles (W. W.) and Hubbard Hollister, brothers Albert and Thomas Dibblee, and Joseph Cooper purchased the two ranchos.