100 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (1971.539A.009) / SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (1969.091) / JOHANNA HARLOW To learn about the Rancho Buri Buri neighborhood, travel back in time to the Wild West. In 1835, this area was born out of a Mexican land grant bestowed upon Lt. José Antonio Sánchez (which stretched from what’s now South San Francisco to San Bruno, Millbrae and parts of Burlingame). Used for crops and cattle, the rancho’s land was divvied up among José’s 10 children in his will. Around the time California became the 31st state, the land was sold off to several wealthy elites, among them Darius Ogden (“D.O.”) Mills, founder of the financial institution now known as Union Bank. At the heart of Darius’ 37,000-acre property was a grand three-story building with a striking mansard roof. The family fondly christened it Happy House and filled its 42 rooms with furnishings purchased from the Wild West to Wealth in Millbrae 1867 Paris Exposition. Their sprawling property also boasted a lavish conservatory, carriage house, manicured gardens and artificial lakes as well as a dairy farm (which produced nearly 300,000 gallons of milk for San Francisco over its lifetime). Echoing José’s heirs, Darius’ descendants subdivided the land after his death into what’s now the city of Millbrae and the northern end of Burlingame. Thus, the holdings of a single family ended up in the hands of over 6,000 owners. The Mills’ former cow pasture gave way to the terminals and runways of San Francisco International Airport. As for the manor itself? Happy House met a not-so-happy ending in the 1950s, when a raging fire reduced it to ash in a matter of hours. You can locate a commemorative plaque in the parking lot of Spring Valley Elementary School in Millbrae, near where the grand mansion once stood.
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