Page 6 - Galveston Railroad Museum - Winter News February 2024

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A BIT OF RAILROAD HISTORY
by Don Harper, Editor and Board Member

FRED HARVEY AND HIS HARVEY HOUSES

At its greatest expansion, there were 84 Harvey Houses
along the Santa Fe routes - the first chain restaurants. The
railroads brought fresh food to the restaurants. Patrons
were served on china plates and drank from crystal glasses,
on tables set with linen tablecloths and silverware.
Another innovation was recruiting young, single women
from back east to serve as Harvey Girls - hostesses and
servers - in his restaurants. They were on a one-year
probation, during which they had to meet his standards, one
of which was prohibition of marriage. They received a
salary and room and board, and vacation travel. After a
year, they could stay or they could marry and many of them
married local men and helped populate the territories
around Santa Fe stations. Around 5,000 women moved
west to become Harvey Girls.
Fred Harvey Another innovation of his company was promoting
Native American art and crats. As tourists began
In 1835, in London, England, Fred Harvey was born to purchasing Native goods, Harvey expanded local tourism
mixed Scottish and England parents. He immigrated to the and took visitors to Native towns.
U.S. in 1853, at age 17, from Liverpool, and found work in Toward the end of his life, Harvey established
a restaurant in New York City. He worked his way up from restaurants for other railroads, and after that, began serving
pot scrubber, to busboy, to waiter and finally to line cook. meal on trains.
He moved to New Orleans around 1855, then to St. Fred died in 1901 of intestinal cancer in Leavenworth,
Louis where he worked as a jeweler. He married Barbara KS. His restaurant chain survived him by 67 years. At the
Mattas in 1956 and she bore him 6 children. time of his death, there were 47 Harvey Houses, 15 hotels
Despite a successful jewelry business, Harvey returned and 30 Santa Fe dining cars operating under the aegis of
to his food roots and started a café. Next he was hired by the Fred Harvey Company.
the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, which was taken over His sons and grandsons continued to operate the
by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. He did well, business until 1965, when it was sold to the conglomerate
was promoted and ultimately transferred to Leavenworth, Amfac, Inc. in 1968. The demise of the Harvey House
KS. He lived in Leavenworth the remainder of his life. empire is undoubtedly due to the rise of automobile travel
While traveling on business for the railroad, he found and the decline of rail travel. But in its heyday it brought
himself unhappy with the food that was served to the civilization to parts of the West that badly needed civilizing.
traveling public. He tried to interest the Burlington Route in The Galveston Railroad Museum was once the
developing restaurants along their routes. The Burlington headquarters of the Santa Fe Railroad, and the building
wasn’t interested, but the Santa Fe was. To its credit, the once housed a Harvey House. It was located to the left of
Santa Fe didn’t charge him to rent the restaurants he the gift shop (as one faces the gift shop). The space is now
opened in their stations. The public loved the concept and devoted to displays, including a large collection of Santa Fe
the railroad’s reputation grew. calendars