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History
From the 1860's, when financier Darius Ogden Mills purchased land from the
Sanchez family to build his country estate, Mills' "brae" or "rolling hills" has
enjoyed a colorful history. Mills' estate grew to span Skyline Boulevard to the
Bayshore Highway and Millbrae Avenue to Trousdale Drive. Children swam in three
lakes situated on the estate and sold acacias to tourists before the Mills
family began to sell the land for development. The estate's spectacular mansion
burned down in a realistic "fire drill" in 1954, leaving behind a growing
community.
Policing in Millbrae was conducted by a private patrol which collected fees from
merchants and residents until 1941, when the San Mateo County Board of
Supervisors created the Millbrae Police District. Records of the Internal
Revenue Service document licensing of several Millbrae bars for gambling; only
after incorporation were gambling laws enforced in Millbrae and not until the
1950's was gambling defeated. In 1931, citizens organized a volunteer fire
department, which remained entirely volunteer until 1938. The police and fire
departments were housed together for several years at Hillcrest Boulevard and El
Camino Real before the vital services moved to their permanent location in
Millbrae's civic center.
For many Millbrae residents the original 16 Mile House was a direct link to
Millbrae's early days. The rest stop was built in 1872 by members of the Sanchez
familythe original landholders of the Buri Buri Rancho, which at one time
comprised parts of present-day Millbrae and Burlingame
Replica of the original 16 Mile House on Broadway Avenue during recent
renovation
Spurred largely by the desire to secure the Mills' estate for residential use
and by the efforts of the Millbrae Sun, residents heatedly discussed
incorporation for over a decade before voting to incorporate. Finally, on
January 14, 1948, residents of Millbrae traveled to Sacramento to present their
new City's charter. Mr. W.F. Leutenegger was elected mayor to represent
Millbrae's nearly 8,000 residents. That year, Green Hills Elementary School
opened as Millbrae's first new school in over twenty-five years, in anticipation
of the educational needs of the post-war "baby boom" children. The new City's
chief industries were agriculture, floriculture, dairy, and porcelain
manufacturing. Many families that built the new City have never left.
In the 1950's, Millbrae residents united to resist efforts to divide the City by
freeway. An unsuccessful effort to save the original Sixteen Mile House in the
1970's led to the birth of the Millbrae Historical Society and eventual
successful crusades to save the Millbrae train station and the historic building
that has become the Millbrae Historical Museum. Such challenges, though
inevitable, have only strengthened Millbrae's resolve to preserve the City's
unique character and rich history.
Transportation has shaped Millbrae's growth. From the turn of the century, the
#40 "interurban" streetcar traveled through Millbrae, linking the City with San
Francisco and San Mateo. Millbrae's high school children rode the streetcar to
attend Burlingame High School until Capuchino High School opened in 1950. The
streetcar line was dismantled just after Millbrae's incorporation, leaving the
Southern Pacific Railroad as the only railway linking Millbrae with surrounding
areas. The Sixteen Mile House marked Millbrae along the railroad route, located
where Millbrae's first Corner Frame Shop stands today. In the 1940's, long-time
residents vividly recall, a hilltop literally was shaved away to produce
landfill for expanding San Francisco International Airport.
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