Editing Millbrae, California (section)

=== 1900s ===
The early 20th century saw rapid growth in Millbrae's population, which increased 3692% from 243 in 1890 to 8,972 in 1950.<ref name="GR2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> [[Transport]]ation has shaped Millbrae's growth; [[Legislative route|Legislative Route]] Number (LRN) 2, which is today known as [[California State Route 82]] or El Camino Real, was established in 1909 largely parallel to the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad,<ref>{{Cite web |title=California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Route 82 |url=https://www.cahighways.org/ROUTE082.html |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=www.cahighways.org}}</ref> and in 1919, [[California State Route 35|Skyline Boulevard]], which runs along Millbrae's western boundary, was established as LRN 55, connecting San Francisco and [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]] via the foothills of the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Route 35 |url=https://www.cahighways.org/ROUTE035.html |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=www.cahighways.org}}</ref> Construction on the [[Bayshore Freeway]], which runs parallel to El Camino and the SF&SJ railroad tracks, began in 1924 and by 1929, it connected Millbrae with the [[East Bay]] via the newly completed [[San Mateo–Hayward Bridge|San Mateo-Hayward Bridge]]. [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] double tracked the SF&SJ railroad in 1904 and by the 1940s, 26 trains ran between SF and SJ per day, with headways as low as 5 minutes (traveling north) in the mornings and 3 minutes (traveling south) in the evening.<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Jose Evening News - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dWsiAAAAIBAJ&pg=4272,5327 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=news.google.com}}</ref> Additionally, until 1948, [[Muni Metro|Muni's]] #40 "interurban" [[Tram|streetcar]] traveled through Millbrae, providing passenger rail service between San Francisco and [[San Mateo, California|San Mateo]].

Millbrae's [[Green Hills Country Club]] was built in 1929 and designed by famed golf course architect Dr. [[Alister MacKenzie]], who also designed other noteworthy courses such as [[Augusta National]], [[Cypress Point Club|Cypress Point]], [[Royal Melbourne Golf Club|Royal Melbourne]], and [[Pasatiempo Golf Club|Pasatiempo]]. The course was originally known as the Union League Golf Club of San Francisco (1930 to 1933) and Millbrae Country Club (1933 to 1945). The course provides a [[green belt]] in the center of the city that is the home of many animals, such as the [[Red fox|red-tail fox]], that otherwise would not be able to survive in the urban setting. It also may be the only area of the city where natural [[Stream|creeks]] still flow above ground.

In 1931, citizens organized a [[volunteer fire department]], which remained entirely volunteer until 1938. The [[police]] and [[fire department]]s were housed together for several years at Hillcrest Boulevard and [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] before the vital services moved to their permanent location in Millbrae's [[civic center]], a few blocks west of El Camino. Millbrae used a private patrol financed by 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 the licensing of several Millbrae bars for gambling; only after incorporation were gambling laws enforced in Millbrae and not until the 1950s was gambling defeated.

In the 1940s, a hilltop was shaved away to produce [[Cut and fill|landfill]] for the expanding [[San Francisco Airport]], which received an "[[International airport|international]]" designation in 1954 with the completion of the Central Terminal. Spurred largely by the desire to secure the Mills estate for residential use and by the efforts of Millbrae's weekly newspaper, the ''Millbrae Sun'', residents heatedly discussed [[Municipal corporation|incorporation]] for over a decade before voting to incorporate. Finally, on January 14, 1948, residents of Millbrae traveled to [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] to present their new [[Municipal charter|city's charter]]. 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 25 years, in anticipation of the educational needs of the post-war "[[Baby boomers|baby boom]]" children. The new city's chief industries were [[agriculture]], [[floriculture]], [[dairy]], and [[Porcelain|porcelain manufacturing]].

In the 1950s, Millbrae residents united to resist efforts to divide the city by the planned [[Junipero Serra Freeway]] (I-280), which was later routed parallel to Junipero Serra Boulevard, then through a canyon in [[San Bruno, California|San Bruno]] up to Skyline Boulevard. The streetcar line that connected Millbrae with San Francisco and San Mateo was dismantled just after Millbrae's incorporation in 1948, leaving the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] as the only railway linking Millbrae with surrounding areas. Millbrae's high school students rode the streetcar to attend [[Burlingame High School (California)|Burlingame High School]] until [[Capuchino High School]] opened on September 11, 1950. The original Sixteen Mile House was located where Millbrae O'Reilly Auto Parts stands today, at the intersection of El Camino Real and Center Street. The Millbrae estate mansion burned down in June 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Niekerken |first=Bill Van |date=October 10, 2017 |title=When the Peninsula's most lavish 19th century mansion went up in flames |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/When-the-Peninsula-s-most-lavish-19th-century-12262867.php |access-date=August 15, 2020 |website=SFChronicle.com |language=en-US}}</ref> After the fire the estate was subdivided and sold, with the bulk of the land going to the [[Paul Trousdale|Paul W. Trousdale]] Construction Company in 1953 and eventually becoming the location for [[Mills High School]], Spring Valley Elementary School, and [[Mills-Peninsula Medical Center|Peninsula Hospital]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Millbrae History Walk |url=http://www.millbraehs.org/millbrae-history-walk.html |access-date=August 14, 2020 |website=Millbrae Historical Society}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Van Niekerken |first=Bill |date=October 10, 2017 |title=When the Peninsula's most lavish 19th century mansion went up in flames |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/When-the-Peninsula-s-most-lavish-19th-century-12262867.php |access-date=August 14, 2020 |website=SFChronicle.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

An unsuccessful effort to save the original Sixteen Mile House in the 1970s 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=City News {{!}} City of Millbrae|url=https://www.ci.millbrae.ca.us/Home/Components/News/News/558/24?arch=1&npage=4|access-date=July 5, 2020|website=www.ci.millbrae.ca.us}}</ref>

Millbrae's population skyrocketed for decades, increasing 10728% from 195 residents in 1880 to just shy of 21,000 in 1970, however the population decreased 4.1% between 1970 and 1980, and Millbrae would not reach its 1970 peak again until after the 2000 census.<ref name="GR2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />