Tom's Place was originally built in 1917 by a German man named Hans Lof. It all started with a much needed gas station to fuel the traffic moving up from Southern California. Lof built a cookhouse, added a store and corrals, then started packing people into the mountains for a wilderness getaway.

In 1923, Thomas Jefferson Yerby and his wife, Hazel (stage actress, Jane Grey) purchased the business for $5,000 and Tom built the original Tom's Place Lodge in 1924. (The original lodge burned down in 1947, and was replaced by the building that you now see.)

People really started getting into the fishing here in the mid 20's, and there was a lot of traffic to Yosemite. People would come and camp for a month at a time at what is now called French Camp. By the late 1920's many cabins had been added, first as tent structures, then permanent ones, many still in use today.

Source: Tom's Place Resort website.