In 1839, William Davis Merry Howard, son of a wealthy Boston shipping magnate, settled in the southern part of California. By the time of the Gold Rush, Howard was already established as a merchant. Like many in that fortunate position, he profited extensively from the demand for supplies needed by those seeking gold. Howard and his wife, Agnes Poett Howard, purchased “Rancho San Mateo” in 1846. This tract of over 6,000 acres encompassed most of what today is Hillsborough, Burlingame and part of San Mateo. They built was considered one of the first great homes on the Peninsula, El Cerrito, which became the center of Peninsula society and philanthropy.
After Agnes Howard's death in 1893, El Cerrito Park was created, 75 - 100 foot “villa lots.” In the years following the 1906 earthquake over 10,000 people moved to San Mateo County, nearly doubling the 1900 census, and there was much demand for such real estate. The area across from El Camino Real near the train station, (later incorporated as Burlingame in 1908), and the nearby town of San Mateo were major beneficiaries of this influx. Eager to broaden their tax bases, city fathers looked to the wealthy landowners on the other side of the highway with hopes of annexation. Members of the Burlingame Country Club, established in 1893 as an incentive to lure homebuyers from San Francisco, had no desire to give up their exclusivity. Club leaders applied to the county for incorporation on February 10, 1910. Two months later, on April 25th, residents of the area voted 60-1 to ratify the incorporation of the newly formed town, Hillsborough, and the town officially came into existence on May 5, 1910.
A board of trustee system was created and the Reverend William A. Brewer was elected as board chairman. Other trustees included Henry Tiffany Scott, Charles Templeton Crocker, Colonel Norris K. Davis, George H. Howard and William H. Crocker, who also served as treasurer. Of primary concern to the new trustees was keeping the rural character of the area intact. They accomplished this by adopting regulations that banned sidewalks, streets laid out in grids and business or commercial enterprises. When the trustees discovered that state zoning law required a business district, they designated a quarry located on Crystal Spring Road as the commercial area, at least until the state law was changed.
The new town's headquarters, fittingly, was the former home of its original founding family, the Howards. At the time of the town's inception, El Cerrito was set to be replaced by a newer, grander mansion, also called El Cerrito, being built by Eugene de Sabla. The original home was moved to Roehampton and Richmond Roads, and served as the town's first town hall, fire department and school. Although the building was demolished in 1930, it may surprise residents to discover that there rests a plaque at that spot today, commemorating Hillsborough's first official public structure
