Millbrae’s post office opened in 1866, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns · #209 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Millbrae was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1962. Its Register listing is the Southern Pacific Depot. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Millbrae post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Millbrae’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Millbrae is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns, #209 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Millbrae’s overall grade.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Millbrae’s 0.4 sits above most of its state (70% of California towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Millbrae’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The oral tradition of the Ohlone people suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for thousands of years. Anthropological evidence suggests Ohlone ethnogenesis occurred around 700 CE following a wave of migration from the Central Valley. 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. 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—wh…
Passages that mention Millbrae, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California1883 · page 244Read the page →
Read the text
Millbrae Dairy. — Millbrae dairy, at Millbrae, the property of A. F. Green, is one among the largest dairies in the county. The barn and dairy house are commensurate in size with the business of the establishment, and are in every respect well appointed while on the ample domain, herds of the best breeds of milk cattle luxuriate in rich pasturage.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California1883 · page 237Read the page →
Read the text
Millbrae. — The first who made a lodgement at what is now known as Millbrae station, was Perry Jones, a farmer, who located here in 1850. He afterwards built the Millbrae Hotel, and kept it for several years as a public house. Its present proprietor, J. Cunningham, of San Bruno, took possession in 1882.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Millbrae, 1866 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1921Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewFMIB 33946 Culling Oysters; Single Float in Foreground, Double Float in Background; Scows, Etc, 1889
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Millbrae’s page.
The Millbrae post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Millbrae rank for history?
Millbrae is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns, #209 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Millbrae?
One place: the Southern Pacific Depot (listed 1978).
How old are the homes in Millbrae?
6% of Millbrae’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1962.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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