Saugus was named for the Massachusetts birthplace of local land owner Henry Mayo Newhall. The town took shape in 1887, just one year prior to H.M. Newhall's death, when the Southern Pacific Saugus Depot was erected at the approximate site of the SP's original Newhall Depot. (The town of Newhall and its depot were established in 1876 near the intersection of present-day Bouquet Canyon Road and Magic Mountain Parkway. The town and depot picked up and moved two miles south, to Sixth Street and Railroad Avenue, in January-February 1878.)

Saugus station master Ore W. Bercaw opened the two-story Surrey Inn, seen in this photograph, in 1911. He apparently came to town in 1906 and opened a general store, followed by an ice house, and he built his own family home in this location. In 1908 Bercaw was one of three people to contribute $100 (each) for the construction of the first Saugus School.

At that time, Saugus wasn't actually called Saugus. It was called Saugus in 1887, but in 1906, when Bercaw became postmaster, the U.S. Postal Service changed the name to Surrey. In 1915 it changed back to Saugus and the Surrey name faded away. No one seems to know where it had come from in the first place.

The Saugus Depot is behind the plume of smoke in this photo, which was probably taken in the 1910s. Note the billboard at left advertising Chesterfield cigarettes.