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Fred S. Totah House
1407 North Glass Street
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On May 22, 1926, J. W. Ragsdale purchased fifty-four feet of frontage on Main Street from Louis S. Alexander, thus enabling him to construct the Ragsdale Building. It is a fine two story, dark red-brick building. It was in the northern portion of this building—106 South Main Street —that the Totah Brothers opened the Manhattan Cafe in 1929. George, Fred, and Pete Totah purchased the business then known as “The Andrews Cafe” at 106 South Main Street and changed the name to the Manhattan Cafe. For eighteen years the trio of Totahs held forth to great acclaim in this spot.
On April 1, 1929, Fred and Jasmine Totah executed a mechanics lien to Anchor Lumber Company for the construction of a new house. It was to be a one-story, six-room residence building and garage on the north half of Lot 3, Block 14 in Linn’s Addition. It was to be of brick veneer construction with asbestos shingle roof, and was to be completed within sixty
working days of the signing of the document. The cost was a whopping $6,911. It is assumed that the construction was completed by July 1, 1929. Local historian Sidney R. Weisiger notes that the house was designed by Kai J. Leffland.
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You can learn more about this home and the families that have lived here in Volume I of Historic Homes of Victoria, available here online through our SHOP or at the Victoria Preservation, Inc. office.