A toll road was built over Pacheco Pass in 1857 by Andrew D. Firebaugh. Later that year he built a tavern near this site that became a Butterfield transcontinental stage stop. In 1859 the Pacific and Atlantic Company built a telegraph line over the pass, and a telegraph station was established here. Lafayette F. Bell purchased the toll road, stage stop, tavern, and telegraph office for $4,000 in 1863. When a post office was added in 1873, the tavern and stage stop became known as Bell Station. Bell Station may be the only remaining name on the California map in which "Station" refers not to a railroad station, but to a stagecoach station.