The Derby House (649 Vulcan Avenue)

“I remember staying at the Derby house and was served pie for breakfast. When I asked about it later, father said the Derbys came from Vermont and people there have pie for breakfast.” - Ida Noonan Truax's memoirs of 1888

Amos Gates Derby came from Colorado in the 1880s to work as a section foreman on the California Southern Railroad. He thought it would be a good idea to build a house for his wife and daughters near the train station, a dwelling large enough to also accommodate train passengers overnight. In 1887, builder E.G. Hammond completed a redwood structure of 5,600 square feet. It had seven or more bedrooms, a central dining room with a red brick fireplace and, descending from the upper floors, a stairway with spindled railing. Adjoining the dining room was a large kitchen with a wood beam.