Before European expansion to the New World, tribes of Native Americans known collectively as the Ohlone, inhabited the Bay Area and the mountain slopes where the City of Brisbane is found today. The San Bruno Mountains were alive with rabbits and deer, and the slopes of San Francisco Bay yielded an abundance of shellfish.

By 1776, the Spanish have arrived and the Franciscan Missionaries soon followed. The mountain provided grazing lands for the sheep and cattle of Mission Dolores de San Francisco de Assisi. At the end of the Mission period in California, these same lands were secularized and disposed of as a part of the Mexican land grants of the 1830's and 1840's.

In 1837, the first grant in this area was made to Jacob Leese who lost most of Roncho Canada de Guadalupe la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo in proceedings involving a gambling debt. His misfortune benefited Charles Crocker who purchased over 3 thousand acres of the grant in 1884 for token payment. Crocker’s holdings eventually passed to the Crocker Land Company, a commercial venture, generating revenue by ranching and quarrying the land.

After the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, attention turned to the Peninsula as a potential refuge for earthquake victims. In 1908, the first subdivision map in the Brisbane area was recorded, establishing lots in ‘The City of Visitacion’, where downtown Brisbane is today.

However, there was little development until the late 1920's when Brisbane had its first of three growth spurts. Between 1929 and 1931, more than 400 homes were built which represents a quarter of the current number of housing units.

The early settlers built modest homes, small markets, a hotel, and established family-run poultry and dairy ranches. By the late 1930's the town had a post office, library, public school, volunteer Fire Department, and a weekly newspaper.

Those who came to Brisbane in the Great Depression and during and after the Second World War came to forge a new life for their families. Land was cheap and they were able to put up a basic shelter to call home until they could afford better. The community helped, the men with the building, the women with the meals, and the numerous volunteer and civic organizations were there in times of need. It is said that the unique Brisbane spirit was born at that time - the spirit of independence.

A bit of Brisbane history, in Brisbane Directory 2004-2005, Published by the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce.