Editing Millbrae, California (section)

=== 1800s ===
The [[First Mexican Empire]] came and went with little change for residents of the area. The [[First Mexican Republic]] was established in 1824, and one of the most significant changes came when [[José María de Echeandía]], [[Governor of Alta California]], issued a "Proclamation of Emancipation" (or "''Prevenciónes de Emancipacion''") on July 25, 1826.<ref>Engelhardt 1922, p. 80, ''San Diego Mission'', "''The military district of San Diego embraced the Missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel.''"</ref> Following this proclamation, the Indigenous people within the military districts of [[Mission San Diego de Alcalá|San Diego]], [[Mission Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara]], and [[Monterey]] who were found qualified were freed from missionary rule and made eligible to become Mexican citizens.<ref>Bancroft, vol. i, pp. 100–101: The motives behind the issuance of Echeandía's premature decree may have had more to do with his desire to appease "...some prominent Californians who had already had their eyes on the mission lands..." than with concern for the welfare of the natives.</ref><ref>Stern and Miller, pp. 51–52: Catholic historian Zephyrin Engelhardt referred to Echeandía as "...an avowed enemy of the religious orders."</ref> In 1827, [[José María de Echeandía|Echeandía]] granted permission for sub-lieutenant José Antonio Sánchez to occupy Mission San Francisco's [[Rancho Buri Buri]]—which included parts of present-day Millbrae and [[Burlingame, California|Burlingame]]—for “grazing and agricultural purposes."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Igler |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oacwDwAAQBAJ |title=Industrial Cowboys: Miller & Lux and the Transformation of the Far West, 1850-1920 |date=January 28, 2005 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24534-1 |pages=46 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Mexican Secularization Act of 1833]] opened the lands of nearby Mission Dolores to civilian settlement, and the small town of [[Yerba Buena, California|Yerba Buena]], which later changed its name to San Francisco, was established that year. [[Settler colonialism|Settlement]] was slow however; in 1847 San Francisco was said to have only 459 residents.<ref name="sfmuseum-early">{{cite web |last=San Francisco News Letter |date=September 1925 |title=From the 1820s to the Gold Rush |url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022224825/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |archive-date=October 22, 2009 |access-date=November 11, 2024 |publisher=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco}}</ref> Few people lived in what is now Millbrae at this time, likely only a few [[Californios|Californio]] families. California came under American rule in 1848 following the [[Mexican–American War]], the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]], and the [[Mexican Cession]] and California became the 31st state in of the United States in 1850. The [[California gold rush|discovery of gold]] relatively nearby in 1848 led to massive population growth, with San Francisco's population growing 5446% in just a few years, from 459 residents in 1847 to 25,000 in 1850.<ref name="1849pop">{{cite book |last=Richards |first=Rand |url=https://archive.org/details/historicsanfranc00rich |title=Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide |publisher=Heritage House |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-879367-00-5 |oclc=214330849}}</ref> San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850,<ref>Report of Committee on Counties, January 4, 1850, revised to 27 counties on February 18, 1850 – {{cite book |last=Coy |first=Owen C. |title=California County Boundaries |publisher=California Historical Survey Commission |year=1923 |location=Berkeley |pages=1–2}}</ref> however in 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of [[San Bruno Mountain]], and everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite book |last=California |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Statutes_of_California_and_Digests_of_Me/4a83AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA145&printsec=frontcover |title=Statutes of California and Digests of Measures |date=1856 |publisher=J. Winchester |language=en}}</ref>

In the 1860s, [[Darius Ogden Mills]] purchased a portion of Rancho Buri Buri from [[José de la Cruz Sánchez]] to build a country estate. The [[San Francisco and San Jose Railroad]], predecessor to [[Caltrain]], began operations in 1863, directly connecting Millbrae and other peninsula towns to [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]], with service extending to [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] in 1864. In 1872, members of the Sánchez family built the original Sixteen Mile House, a historical restaurant and rest stop near the Mills estate, and direct link to Millbrae's early days. The Mills estate was bordered by what is now [[Skyline Boulevard]], [[U.S. Route 101 (California)|U.S. Route 101]] (the [[Bayshore Freeway]]), 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." Millbrae grew slowly during the 19th century; according to the 1890 US Census, the town had only 243 residents.