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.