Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> SAUGUS
Tolfree's Dining Room Inside Saugus Depot
Saugus, California


Click image to enlarge | Download large enhanced version

thumbnail
Dining Room

thumbnail
Letterhead

One way to say it is that this is the Saugus Café when it was inside the Saugus Train Station in the 1890s. More correctly, it was the dining room of J.H. Tolfree's Depot Hotel (aka Eating House) when it was inside the 1888-vintage depot (SE corner of San Fernando/Bouquet and Drayton Street). It was renamed "Saugus Café" when it changed hands in 1899 and moved across the road in 1916.

The letterhead indicates that Tolfree was running a hotel inside the depot in the 1890s. It's beleived he let the rooms upstairs; don't know exactly where the stationmaster lived at the time. Later stationmasters lived inside the depot. (It is possible the earliest stationmaster[s] didn't, as the Newhall stationmaster, John Gifford, lived in a freestanding home that faced the Newhall depot.) Also note, as indicated on the letterhead, that this section of Saugus was known as Surrey from 1906-1915. The name "Surrey" appearing in conjunction with a date of "189_" is a mystery.

Read: Tales of the Saugus Cafe.


BT1890a: 9600 dpi jpeg from 1200 dpi bmp. Borrowed-scanned-returned to Beth and Charles Tolfree. Permission on file.
SAUGUS CAFE

Tales of the Saugus Cafe (Reynolds)


thumbnail

Envelope 1890

thumbnail

Dining Room & Letterhead 1890s

thumbnail

Harrison Passes By 1891

thumbnail

J. Herbert Tolfree

thumbnail

Charles Edward Tolfree

thumbnail

In Saugus Depot 1890s

thumbnail

Pottery Sherd 1891/1905

thumbnail

Replacement China

thumbnail

Advertisement 1895

thumbnail

J.H. Tolfree Death
1-16-1897

thumbnail

1914

thumbnail

Matchbook Cover 1938

thumbnail

Sandwich Shop Destruction 1941

thumbnail

Both Buildings 1955

thumbnail

Both Bldgs ~1957 x3

RETURN TO TOP ]   RETURN TO MAIN INDEX ]   PHOTO CREDITS ]   BIBLIOGRAPHY ]   BOOKS FOR SALE ]
SCVHistory.com is another service of SCVTV, a 501c3 Nonprofit • Site contents ©SCVTV
The site owner makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to digitized images. However, these images are intended for Personal or Research use only. Any other kind of use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the site owner. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.