History of the Harvey Girls by Donna Schlachter

Outside a typical Harvey House c.1900

 

While Fred Harvey and his company changed how folks traveled the west from 1876 until the mid-1950s, perhaps the thing most folks recall are the waitresses in his restaurants, who came to be known as The Harvey Girls.

Dining cars were implemented in the 1880s, but food was expensive, and most passengers opted to purchase their meals at the train depots, which usually provided only sandwiches and coffee. Mr. Harvey felt there had to be a better way.


After building a string of hotels along the rail lines to serve for passengers who
were stopping over, he soon added dining rooms with full service guaranteed in half an hour.

Originally, Mr. Harvey hired only men to serve the meals, but in 1883, he had to fire his entire staff at one of his houses in New Mexico. His manager recommended he hire women because they were less likely to get into drunken brawls.

However, a ready supply of young, reputable women was in short supply west of the Mississippi, so he advertised in the east for women willing to train in Kansas City then travel west to their new home for at least the next six months.

Each Harvey Girl signed a contract and affirmed she wouldn’t date other employees, would observe the dress and conduct codes, would wear and maintain her uniform, and would generally do as she was told. In exchange, she received room and board, was introduced to a better class of patrons, and was paid an above-average salary while living in a part of the country she’d unlikely have had the opportunity to ever see otherwise.

The classic Harvey Girl uniform c. 1900

 

At first, the concept of a woman working outside the house engendered criticism, mostly because of past experience with employers and situations of low repute, including saloons and brothels. Mr. Harvey countered this disapproval by using stark uniforms reminiscent of a nun’s habit, forbidding makeup, enforcing curfews, and hiring women with good references.

The Harvey Girls worked six or seven days a week, often twelve or more hours a day, serving meals to train passengers. Food orders were telegraphed ahead so meals were ready when the train pulled in, since the stopover was most often only thirty minutes. In those days, other restaurants and dining rooms served bad food at exorbitant prices, so the Harvey House standards were much appreciated.

In fact, Mr. Harvey insisted that his chefs be professionally trained, and he limited the number of dishes available to customers to streamline both the ordering and the preparation of the meals.

Many young women replied to his ads, and records indicate that more than 100,000 women worked for him over the eighty years of business until the private automobile spelled the decline in train travel.

Harvey Girls taking a sun break c. 1900

Perhaps one of the most endearing facts about the Harvey House and its “Girls” is that many of them started working for Mr. Harvey in hopes of meeting a rich passenger from a train who would marry them and take them elsewhere. However, most ended up renewing their contracts many times. And even when their contract was done, more than half of the women stayed in the area, married and having families, helping to settle the Wild West. One of the longest-serving Harvey Girls worked for the company in excess of 40 years.


Resources:

https://truewestmagazine.com/harvey-girls/

https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-of-the-west-the-harvey-girls/

About Donna:

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, and CAN; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com

On the Atchinson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe

By Tiffany Amber Stockton

Last month, I began a series highlighting Colorado Springs history. If you missed that post, you can read it here: https://www.hhhistory.com/2020/03/grand-opening-colorado-springs-take-2.html. Upon further reflection, I'll be expanding my focus on history throughout the state, not just one city, although Colorado Springs will be in the limelight more often than not. :)

This month, I'm going to shine the spotlight on the 10 stations in the state of Colorado which featured a Harvey House at their depots, and thereby also had Harvey Girls.

COLORADO's HARVEY GIRLS

Ever since I read Tracie Peterson's Westward Chronicles trilogy with the heroines working as Harvey Girls, I've been fascinated by their stories and the rich history that has come with this small bit of America's western past. For many years, I got excited every time I found a story about a Harvey Girl or learned something about the restaurant chain that once existed. I always wanted to visit one, but none of them are open and active anymore.

However, many of them have been re-purposed into other useful buildings or businesses. Unfortunately, they were all along the train routes that ran from Kansas into Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Or, so I thought!

Imagine my surprise when I was driving downtown in Colorado Springs and saw an older building that didn't fit with the rest of the buildings around it. My curiosity piqued, I crossed the road and pulled into the parking lot to investigate. What I discovered both thrilled and surprised me.

Santa Fe Depot, Colorado Springs, CO

There was a Harvey House restaurant at that very spot! One problem, though. There wasn't any railroad, and the building was situated in the middle of dozens of other buildings in all directions. Well, since I rarely let historical gems like this get away without further research, I went home and did some research.

As it turns out, there WAS once a railroad station there, and the track ran right out front. At the time, that station (called the Santa Fe station, oddly enough) was the easternmost point of Colorado Springs. Years passed, and the city expanded. With that expansion came the shifting of the railroad route to another track, thereby ending the need for a restaurant at a station that had been shut down. Eventually, the station and buildings became offices and warehouses for storage, but I can just see that area during its heyday in my mind.

Santa Fe Depot, Trinidad, CO

I have started and sketched out a few stories where that station will be the focal point, but I also plan to feature the other locations throughout Colorado once I can sell at least 1 of the books set right here in my hometown. One story is about a secret admirer and involves a combination of a Harvey Girl and what *would* have been a Pony Express rider, only that service only lasted from 1860-1861. So, I changed it to a mail delivery stagecoach driver. *grins* My second story features the daughter of a prominent family who is tired of her life being scheduled, so she rebels and takes a job as a Harvey Girl to gain some independence. The work proves much harder than she anticipates, and she finds an ally in the chef, a man with a secret identity of his own.

That's Colorado Springs.

Here are the other locations throughout the state:

El Otero Hotel, La Junta, CO

• Cascade (eventually moved to Woodland Park)
• Idyllwild
• Leadville
• Hugo
• La Junta
• Pueblo
• Trinidad
• Palmer Lake
• Colorado Springs

The restaurants or lunchrooms operated at train platforms or inside hotels starting in 1879, with the most active time from 1895-1920. The last Colorado Harvey House, El Otero Hotel in La Junta, closed in 1948.

If you want to read a great blog post briefly summarizing the Harvey House restaurants and their impact on American history, check out The Restless Native.


NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* Have you ever eaten at a Harvey House? If so, where?

* What little known gems exist where YOU live that many might not know exist?

* What did you like the most about today's post? What topics would you like to see covered in future posts?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments you have on the post below. Come back on the 9th of May for my next appearance.

---

BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those childhood skills to become an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker who is also an advocate for literacy as an educational consultant with Usborne Books. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help better their lives.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children and two dogs in Colorado. She has sold twenty (23) books so far and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

The Allure of the Harvey Girls by Donna Schlachter -- with a Giveaway!

Welcome to Heroes, Heroines, and History. Read all the way through the post to find out how to leave a comment and be entered into a random drawing for a print copy (US only) of MissAdventure Brides Collection, which includes my story, Detours of the Heart.

The idea for the story came from research on the Harvey House. Created by Fred Harvey, Sr,

Fred Harvey Sr

as an alternative to the seedy hotels and restaurants springing up along America’s railroads in the 1870’s, the Harvey House restaurants filled a huge need: Until Mr. Harvey and his iconic restaurants came along, it was virtually impossible to get a decent meal anywhere along the tracks.

But beginning in 1876, the Harvey House chain of restaurants changed all that. Mr. Harvey hired professional chefs, and in the beginning, personally trained the front-of-house staff, including the servers, busboys, and managers.

Harvey Girl and Customer

Up until then, girls who worked in restaurants were but a half-step—morally, at least—above soiled doves. Or so folks thought. Mr. Harvey wanted to create a safe and clean place to eat for the passengers on the trains, so he hired only young, clean, unmarried girls, mostly between the ages of 18 and 30. They had to sign a year-long contract, couldn’t date or court, had to meet curfew, had to work hard, and had to demonstrate good moral character. Passengers were promised their meals in 30 minutes or less, because the train would stop to allow them to eat and had a schedule to keep. If a meal took longer than that, somebody had to answer directly to Mr. Harvey.




While doing research for the first book, I came across an interesting reference to Mr. Harvey’s love of all things Southwestern. In fact, he acquired one of the largest collections of early-19th-century native artifacts.

Squaw Blossom Necklace

As the years went past, Mr. Harvey added hotels to his business line, and soon added gift shops in these hotels. In the Southwest, he realized passengers were enthralled with the native American culture they saw evidence of but had no real contact with, so in the early 1920’s, he established the Southwestern Indian Detours. These tours provided a bus ride out to a local Indian reservation where they could meet with the natives, see them at work, and purchase their goods such as woven blankets, clay pots, leather goods, and jewelry. Eventually, he carried similar items in his gift shops for those who either didn’t or couldn’t take the tours. As with all things good, counterfeiting soon sprang up, which troubled Mr. Harvey greatly, as he saw that such a practice would devalue the culture as well as the products.

La Alvarado, Albuquerque, NM

The entire Harvey House culture spanned about 100 years of our country’s history, ending in the late 1960’s when passenger trains began including dining cars, negating the need for trains to stop for meals. There are still a few original buildings left standing which have now been repurposed, and
many museums criss-cross the states between Kansas and California.


Perhaps one of the most endearing facts about the Harvey House and its “Girls” is that many of them started working for Mr. Harvey in hopes of meeting a rich passenger from a train who would marry them and take them elsewhere. However, most ended up renewing their contracts many times. One of the longest-serving Harvey Girls worked for the company in excess of 25 years.



Giveaway: which do you prefer: history or mystery? Leave a comment to be entered into a random drawing for a print copy (US only) of the MissAdventure Brides Collection.


About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. She writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas and full-length novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Christian Authors Network, and Sisters In Crime; facilitates a critique group, and teaches writing classes. Donna ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. She is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.





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About MissAdventure Brides Collection: These seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back from adventure.



About Detours of the Heart: A tour guide who wants to move on, a playboy who’s never had a place to call home—can they overcome their own plans and allow God to make their path straight, or will they take yet another detour?

Where To "Eat Out" In the Old West

I’m thrilled to say that in just a bit over a month, my next story will be released. “The Outcast’s Redemption” is one of nine stories in the upcoming Secret Admirers Romance Collection releasing on May 1. My heroine for this story works as a waitress in a small-town café as she struggles to support her ailing mother and two younger siblings.

Somehow, I never fell in love with cooking the way my mother did. She managed to provide our family with nutritious and tasty meals, no matter whether she was in her stay-at-home mom stage, her working night shift as an R.N. stage, or her keeping down a full-time day job in a busy financial office stage. She was—and still is—an excellent cook. But the love of preparing food never took hold in me, so eating out is a common occurrence for my family.

As I wrote “The Outcast’s Redemption,” I began to think about how different life was in terms of where one could grab a meal “out” in the Old West. Obviously, there wasn’t a Chili’s or P. F. Chang’s on every corner. So where could our beloved cowboys take their ladies for a dinner out? Were there places a weary traveler could get a quick bite without having to hunt for, skin, and cook his own meal? Yes, there were—and here are a few of them.

The Local Saloon

Western Saloon

While we most often think of the Old West saloons as being purveyors of alcoholic beverages, they also provided weary travelers (male-only travelers, that is) with the chance to get a meal. In fact, it was often a “free” meal. But there was a catch. The free food was free on the honor system—order, consume, and pay for two drinks, and then you could eat all the foods you wanted. Offerings ranged from cold cuts, breads, pretzels, smoked herrings, dill pickles, potato chips, salted peanuts, and a host of other salty fare. There was a method to the madness of the salted meats, cheeses, and finger foods. Salty food makes one thirsty, and selling alcoholic beverages was their big money maker. So saloon owners knew that by providing the all-you-can-eat meats and snacks so laden with salt, they were ultimately assuring themselves hours of beer, whiskey, and other beverage sales.

The Boarding House

Dinner at a Miner's Boarding House in Canada

A boarding house provided rooms for rent, as well as meals for those renting the rooms. Often, these businesses were run by women—single ladies or widows—who needed a way to make ends meet. They would open their homes to travelers, renting out a bedroom with the promise of at least one meal, if not two, a day. Most often, they provided breakfast, and those offering two meals would offer breakfast and dinner. The meals were often served around a large dining table with a family-type atmosphere, everyone passing plates and bowls of food, rather than being served food that’s been plated for the diners.

Restaurants

The Balkan Restaurant (and bar) in Utah

Every western town had at least one restaurant, but the restaurants varied greatly from place to place. The smaller the town, the more low-key and down-to-earth the restaurant décor and fare. In the early days of a town, the restaurant might be housed in a large tent or a lean-to. As a town grew and expanded, and as the restaurant owner gained resources from selling his food, he would often build a more permanent structure to house his establishment.

Food in western restaurants depended on many variables. Most often, they relied on what was most readily available. They would provide various meats (and most often beef, since it was so readily available in the West), breads, eggs, potatoes, fruit pies, cakes, coffee, and whatever vegetables could be had in the area. Some more upscale eateries would ship oysters in from the coast to tantalize their customers’ taste buds. By the 1880’s, the big rage in dining out was French cuisine, so restaurants served meats, fish, and vegetables in various French-inspired sauces, along with fancy desserts, milk, and cheese.

The First Restaurant Chain—The Harvey House

In the later 1870’s, a man by the name of Fred Harvey had begun to realize that many western restaurants were really quite a mess. They were a necessary commodity, but most were run by men, with male wait staffs, cooks, and dishwashers. The service proved to be unpredictable and sometimes chaotic. Harvey’s partner, Tom Gable, rightly saw that adding women to the staff of these restaurants might provide the balancing effect that was needed to make them function better.

Fred Harvey

Harvey opened his first restaurant in 1878 in Florence, Kansas, situated along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line. Taking Gable’s idea, he staffed his restaurant with women between the ages 18 and 30, each of good moral character, intelligent, attractive, and well-mannered. He promised to provide good, wholesome food in a hurry. The restaurant model took off, and his company quickly grew. Between the 1870’s and 1965, there were as many as eighty-four Harvey House restaurants and lunch counters dotting the western lands along the railroad’s paths. (If you’d like to read more thorough accountings of Fred Harvey, his contribution to how our beloved westerners ate out, and the Harvey Girls who worked in his establishments, please click here to see what our other HHH Bloggers have written on the subject).

So there you have it. There were many various places that a resident of the Old West could eat food not prepared by his or her own hands.

It’s Your Turn: Do you prefer eating out or do you enjoy meal planning, preparation, and the satisfaction of cooking?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.

PRE-ORDER NOW: The Secret Admirers Romance Collection  

Declaring one’s love can be hard—even risky—especially when faced with some of life’s greatest challenges. Separated by class, time, distance, and more, some loves must remain secret until the time is right. Instead, notes of affection, acts of kindness, gifts of admiration, and lots of prayer are circulated. From New England mansions to homestead hovels, love is quietly being nourished and waiting for the right time to be revealed. But when love can finally be boldly expressed, will it be received by love in return?

Tidbits About Union Station in Kansas City, MO.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Paul and I drove 18 hours to Independence, MO. to where our daughter and her family recently moved. On Tuesday we visited the Union Station in Kansas City, MO. So, I thought I'd thought I'd share a tidbit or two from our visit.

The first impression as you drive up to Union Station is "what the heck—why is there a large bug greeting you as you drive into the parking lot?" Personally, I don't know. We didn't find an answer to the question, but it does make you wonder, especially when you see large bugs in the Lionel train sets in the back of the station. (Upon further exploration, I found a link to a large bug exhibit online.) When you step into the station you are awed by the intricate work with stone and architecture. Here's a picture of the ceiling that accents the fine details that went into the creation of this station. Note the chandelier as well.

Union station was built in the early 20th century, opening in Oct. 1914, making it 100 years old last month. Here's a link to a timeline with historic pictures of the construction of the station. www.unionstation.org/timeline.
The original station was called the "Union Depot" and opened in 1878.

Kansas City is perhaps the closest location to the middle of the United States as one can get to. Union Station—with the advent of the trains criss-crossing the states—naturally became a hub of the train rails. Today you can still come by train to the station, and there were plenty of trains on the tracks when we visited. There was also a great showcase of Fred Harvey and his restaurants through the display of the china used in the restaurants. Here is a picture of the most common southwestern pattern.

Here is a set of dishes that were commemorative plates of the Grand Canyon which were sold at the Harvey stops.

Another marvel of the architecture was the design of the floors: terra cotta design in marble. Here's a sample of the floor.

So if you're ever in the area you should take and spend some time at Union Station. There was so much more to explore but our time was limited. I look forward to going there again. As today marks the beginning of preparation for the Christmas season, I'll leave you with this picture of Paul and I at the base of the Christmas tree at Union Station.

Lynn A. Coleman is an award winning & best-selling author who makes her home in Keystone Heights, Florida, with her husband of 40 years. Lynn's newest novel THE INNKEEPER'S WIFE will be released November 1, 2014. It is the second in her Historical St. Augustine, FL. series. If you are interested in 19th Century Carriages & Wagons follow the enclosed link.
Check out her 19th Century Historical Tidbits Blog if you like exploring different tidbits of history.

CHRISTMAS, WWII AND THE HARVEY GIRLS By Cynthia Hickey

CHRISTMAS AS A HARVEY GIRL IN WWII

 

Fred Harvey, founder of the chain of hotels and restaurants along the Santa Fe, Topeka, Atchison Railroad, respected the men and women serving our country during WWII. Military personnel were served first and treated even more royally than Harvey already treated his customers.

 

At Christmas, tables were moved, allowing for a dance floor, carols were sung, and romance was in the air. It wasn’t only civilian women rushing to the altar when men came home on furlough, so did the Harvey Girls, many of them canceling their contracts in order to marry.

 

Still, Fred Harvey was determined to make Christmas a time of joy and hope for these brave men and women, wanting little more than sending them off with a smile and some Christmas spirit.

 

Despite war rationing and worn stockings, the women in Harvey’s employ made sure these brave military men had a holiday they could carry with them back to the Frontlines.

 

In my latest Harlequin Heartsong, A Doctor’s Heart, my hero is a military doctor, wounded and temporarily blinded by a German soldier impersonating an American. When he meets the heroine with whom he had been exchanging letters, he pushes her away, not wanting her pity. Not only is this a Christmas Romance, but it is about overcoming prejudice and following God’s will.

 

Leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of A Doctor’s Heart.

 

A Doctor’s Heart

Betsy Colter's Heart is On the Line 

Betrayed by her soldier fiancé, Betsy takes a job as a Harvey Girl waitress and vows to steer clear of military romance. But soon she's falling for her army pen pal, Dr. Spencer Gregory. When a wounded Spencer returns home and rebuffs her friendship and love, Betsy's deepest fears come true. 

Though he's a decorated soldier, Spencer sees himself as a burden—one he won't saddle Betsy with. But keeping her at arm's length is no longer an option when Betsy's former fiancé shows up eager to win her back. If their romance is to survive the war, Spencer must set aside his pride and win her heart.

Multi-published and Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s ebooks for their genre. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013, 2014, 2015 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents, and has sold more than 260,000 copies of her works. She is active on FB, twitter, and Goodreads. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven children, two dogs and two cats. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at www.cynthiahickey.com