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San Bruno, California

Prior to 1750 the San Francisco Peninsula was inhabited by the Ohlone Indians. Ohlone is the name that has been given to the many related groups of Native Americans living along the coast between Monterey and San Francisco. They were hunter gatherers who relied largely on the bay and ocean for food. The Ohlone used tule reeds that grew near the bay and along the many creeks in the area to build their homes and canoes. While as many as several thousand Ohlone are estimated to have lived in the area, probably no more than a few dozen lived in the area that now makes up San Bruno City at any one time. There have been three hunting campsites uncovered. One of them has been found along San Bruno Creek, which runs through Junipero Serra County Park and San Bruno City Park. The other two were near the creek that flows through Crestmoor Canyon.

Captain Bruno Heceta explored the western shore of the San Francisco Bay in 1775. He named the largest land mass on that side of the peninsula Mount San Bruno after his patron saint. Saint Bruno the Confessor was an 11th century monk and founder of the Carthusian order of monks. The City of San Bruno was named after the mountain. The City is also where the two main roads around the mountain meet. The Bayshore Road and the Mission Road/Railroad follow paths that existed in Captain Heceta’s day.

While the Spanish explored California they began to establish missions. In 1776, a mission was established in San Francisco. The government of the newly explored territory was centered at the mission on the Monterey Peninsula, 100 miles to the south, so a road connecting the two missions was needed. At the time, the easiest route was up the heart of the peninsula between the coastal mountains and the marshes along the bay. This road became El Camino Real (The Royal Highway).

In the 1820s, the San Bruno land was awarded to Jose Antonio Sanchez by the Mexican Government for his years of military service. His property spanned from San Bruno Mountain in the north to Burlingame in the south and from the bay in the east to the mountain ridge in the west. When Sanchez died in 1843, his land was to be divided between his nine heirs. Before this could happen, however, the property had to be inventoried by the Mexican Government. This was a long and costly process. In the meantime the Mexican-American war began in 1846. After the United States won the war in 1848, Sanchez’s heirs lost the land though the court system. Much of the Sanchez land was purchased by Darius Mills, founder of the Bank of California.

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