Roofer in Millbrae, CA

The Ohlone people have been living in the Bay Area for hundreds of years. The closest villages to what is now Millbrae were located by the banks of San Bruno Creek, and they are known as Urebure and Siplichiquin. A third nearby village-whose original name is unknown-is called CA-SMA-299. The local Ohlone people are today called the Ramaytush Ohlone; however this name is a linguistic designation that arose relatively recently. Prior to colonization, the Ohlone did not operate as a single consolidated unit; they identified more with their local tribe and village than with the nation at large. The several local tribes that lived in the area prior to colonization coalesced into the modern Ramaytush people following the precipitous decline of their population in the 1800s.

In 1827, sub lieutenant José Antonio Sánchez, who was stationed at the Presidio, was granted permission by Mexican governor José María de Echeandía to occupy the rancho for “grazing and agricultural purposes”, as grazing land for Mission Dolores and the Presidio of San Francisco. The original Sixteen Mile House, a historical restaurant and rest stop, was a direct link to Millbrae’s early days. The rest stop was built in 1872 by members of the Sánchez family, the original landholders of the Rancho Buri Buri, which at one time comprised parts of present-day Millbrae and Burlingame.

Darius Ogden Mills purchased land in the 1860s from José de la Cruz Sánchez and family of Rancho Buri Buri to build a country estate. The former Mills estate was bordered by what is now Skyline Boulevard, Bayshore Highway U.S. Route 101, Millbrae Avenue and Trousdale Drive. The estate became known as “Millbrae” from “Mills” and the Scottish word “brae,” which means “rolling hills” or “hill slope.” The Millbrae estate mansion burned down in June 1954. After the fire the estate was subdivided and sold, with the bulk of the land going to the Paul W. Trousdale Construction Company in 1953 and eventually becoming the location for Mills High School, Spring Valley Elementary School, and Peninsula Hospital.