“girls wanted: for service at the fred harvey houses”

“Girls Wanted: For Service at the Fred Harvey Houses”

by

Brenna Stewart Dugan, B.A.

A Thesis

In

HISTORY

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty Of Texas Tech University in

Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for

The Degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS

Approved

Dr. Julie Willett Chairman of the Committee

Dr. Alwyn Barr

Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School

December, 2008

Texas Tech University, Brenna Stewart Dugan, December 2008

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES iii

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. MAINTAINING QUALITY REGARDLESS OF COST 10

III. THE HARVEY GIRL: THE KIND YOU MARRY 31

IV. THE PORTRAIT OF A HARVEY GIRL 51

V. END OF THE LINE 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY 83


iii

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Photograph of Slaton Harvey House Male Employees. 39

2. Photograph of Slaton Harvey House Employees. 39

3. Photograph of the Slaton Harvey Girls. 43

4. Photograph of the Slaton Harvey House. 45

5. Portrait of a Harvey Girl. 58

6. The second portrait of a Harvey Girl. 61

7. Photograph of the railroad construction, 1912. 73

8. Advertisement selling lots in Slaton. 74

9. Newstand in the Slaton Harvey House. 75

10. Slaton Harvey House Main Room, 2008. 80

11. Slaton Harvey House Bed and Breakfast, 2008. 80

12. Renovated Slaton Harvey House. 82


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

“I never dreamed that anybody would ever be interested in knowing anything about it or

I would have made notes."1

In the 1946 movie The Harvey Girls Judy Garland helped to romanticize the Fred

Harvey Houses and the women who worked there by singing “Atchison, Topeka and the

Santa Fe.” The movie follows a group of women who have signed on to become Harvey

Girls in the Southwestern desert town of Sandrock, Mountain Territory. Their reasons

for traveling west are as numerous as the number of girls on the train. As the train nears

Sandrock, Sonora Cassidy declares, “A Harvey Girl is more than a waitress. Wherever

there is a Harvey House, civilization is not far behind.” Cassidy‟s simple declaration was

the foundation the Harvey House has lived on years after the restaurants closed. Not all

of the citizens of Sandrock were happy about the arrival of the Harvey establishment and

the changes the house brought with it. The owner and dancers at the local saloon tried

their best to close down the restaurant, going as far as stealing the steaks, shooting into

the living quarters at night, and turning a snake loose in the girls‟ rooms. Unfortunately

for them, the Harvey Girls fought back and restored order to the Harvey House. In the

end, true love fell on Judy Garland and she left her job to settle in Sandrock with one of

1 Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording.


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its more noted residents, leaving the impression that romance could always be found by

traveling to new places.2

Harvey Girls have been remembered in movies, poems, songs, stories, and

countless books. While the idea that adventure brings romance is not new, the idea of the

Harvey Girls and their ability to “civilize” the West has allowed such romanticism to

reach a new level. However, the movie is true to point in the fact that the Atchison,

Topeka, and Santa Fe realized the importance and profitability of decent, if not luxurious,

accommodations along it route. The movie also depicts people who were clamoring to

travel west which led to the settlement of towns, especially in the vicinity of train depots.

This realization led to an agreement between Fred Harvey and the Atchison, Topeka, and

Santa Fe to build and support the restaurants that became known as the Harvey Houses.

Eventually, the Harvey Houses became famous not only for the affordable and appetizing

dinners, but for the women who served them, the Harvey Girls, who like in the movie,

went west for jobs, adventure, and sometimes romance. Regardless of their reasons,

Harvey Girls just like Judy Garland‟s character, were often called upon to save the day,

although admittedly in less dramatic fashion.3

There has been little research on the Harvey Girls‟ experiences and work culture

in the 1930s and 1940s. The introduction of the Harvey Houses along the Atchison,

Topeka, and Santa Fe is legendary and dates back to 1876. The book that most

influenced this study was Lesley Poling-Kempes‟ The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened

the West. As did the books by Juddi Morris‟ The Harvey Girls The Women Who

2 George Sidney, The Harvey Girls, (California: Warner Brothers, 1945), motion picture. 3 Ray Glass, “A Slice of Slaton History: Restoration brings Harvey House back to life.” Lubbock

Avalanche Journal, 7 March 2003, Sec. B, p. 2.


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Civilized the West and George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin‟s book The Harvey House

Cookbook: Memories of Dining Along The Santa Fe Railroad, which examined the

women and food that were a part of the Fred Harvey Houses.4 Other books helped with

the topics of gender, work culture, and class.5 Up until the twentieth century most wait

staff was male. Waitresses could occasionally be found in boarding houses, music halls,

and private clubs, but male wait staff was found in the majority of restaurants. By adding

women to the workforce, interaction between the workers and the customers changed

greatly. 6 Starting in 1883, women were employed to serve the meals to the customers

bringing on a new phenomenon in food service worldwide. In the beginning, women

were closely supervised, but this began to change in the later years of the restaurant‟s

history. Women working, especially in a service industry, should not surprise too many

people. Women have worked for years, only it was usually within the confines of the

home. Initially, women who worked outside the home had jobs that were most often not

considered respectable.7 A job, especially waiting tables, placed women in the company

of men, and if not closely monitored, allowed one to believe that this contact could lead

to immoral acts.8 With an ingenious management style and attractive waitresses, the

Harvey Houses rode to fame and legend in the American West. Fred Harvey, by moving 4 Lesley Poling-Kempes, The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened The West (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1991); Judi Morris, The Harvey Girls: The Women Who Civilized the West (New York: Walker and Company, 1994); George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin, The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of

Dining Along The Santa Fe Railroad (Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1992). 5 Dorothy Sue Cobble, Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991); Alice Kessler-Harris, Out To Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women

in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982); Christine Stansell, City of Women: Sex

and Class in New York, 1789-1860 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1986); 5 Alison Owings, Hey,

Waitress! The USA From the Other Side Of The Tray (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002) 6 Cobble, 25. 7 Kessler-Harris, 75. 8 Cobble, 24.


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“respectable” women west, shaped millions of lives while achieving legendary success

for his company that is still remembered today.

Along with archival material, oral histories provide the basis for much of my

research. I began by putting together the questions which would make up the foundation

of my project. While the code of conduct had changed by the twentieth century, it is

plausible that the reasons women began to work at the Harvey Houses had also begun to

change. I wanted to find out more about why the women became Harvey girls. Were the

reasons truly about the adventures the west had to offer? Thousands of women traveled

west in the service of Fred Harvey, but what were their reasons and why did some of the

women remain in the west while others returned to their families? Questions arose

around those who continued to live in the west, such as, were they escaping trouble at

home or did they find spouses out west and begin families of their own? Obviously the

women were paid for their employment. This leads to the question of whether finances

were the reason women took jobs as Harvey Girls. Did Harvey Girls keep their pay or

did they send it to their families? All of these questions lead to even more questions

relating to why the Harvey Houses became legendary and why, after 100 years, the

restaurant is still remembered.

I found that Harvey employees gave a much more direct and personal view of the

various changes in their work culture, especially when women were added to the wait

staff. Maintaining respectability and morality is in part why many have assumed there

was such strict supervision of the Harvey Girls. Yet, the oral histories that I conducted

reveal that their lives were actually less restricted and controlled than what had been


5

reported. The Fred Harvey Company may have found employees they considered to be

morally upstanding and loyal and hence a great benefit to its image and success, but the

Harvey Girls shaped much of their work culture. To be sure, the research may be limited

by the fact that the former employees were in their 80‟s to 90‟s, but I have found they

could still recall crucial facts about their employment. For example, it is legendary that

the Harvey Girls often met their future husbands while working at the Harvey House,

therefore, the women tend to be able to recall, with great detail, those events in their lives

that seem to matter most. Rose Farschon and Molly Johnson, for example, are two

women that were Harvey Girls in their youth. As I spoke to Rose and Molly the details

of meeting their husbands, over 50 and 60 years ago, were still vivid.9

Personal memories led me into an examination of historic preservation. As the

twentieth century came to a close a large number of the Harvey Houses were demolished

so new buildings could be constructed. A small number of Harvey Houses survived and

have been, or are currently being, restored. The restoration is being done so future

generations will not forget an era that has passed, but why is this important? I began to

look at the reasons communities saved the buildings and have formed attachments to the

buildings something that brought into sharp relief the importance of the Harvey Girls‟

work culture and romantic image. Predominately towns along the Santa Fe Railway

began saving the buildings with the local newspapers reporting the progress and

capturing some of the memories of the Harvey Girls. As the restoration projects began to

9 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording; Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording.


6

make progress they were able to get the Harvey Houses designated with historical

markers.10

This study begins by examining the rise of Fred Harvey and his Harvey Houses

and moves to the contemporary. In 1869 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway

began its movement west following the Santa Fe Trail, but its true claim to fame came

after the partnership with Fred Harvey. Both Santa Fe and Fred Harvey had something to

prove. The Santa Fe was endeavoring to do its part in fulfilling America‟s destiny to

subdue the continent and rush over the land toward the Pacific11 while Fred Harvey was

determined to be the best in the restaurant business proving quality was more than a

slogan, it was a way of life. Ultimately this research builds on scholarship that has

examined the introduction of Harvey Houses in the west. However my research pays

particular attention to the Harvey Girl‟s work experiences and how the Harvey Company

relied on their image to not only bring Victorian culture to the west, but to attempt to

resurrect the company in the face of post-WW II era changes in consumption and travel.

Even after the Harvey Houses close down, I found historic preservation keeps many

memories alive and well. Ultimately, I am arguing that the Harvey Girl, much like the

movie suggests, was not simply a waitress but an American icon whose image was used

to save business and more recently revitalize towns.

More specifically, Chapter One introduces Fred Harvey, the restaurateur, from his

birth in London, to his legendary success as the creator of the Harvey House. This

10 Joshua Hull, “Historic Harvey House gets back on track in Slaton,” Lubbock Avalanche Journal, 13 April 2008, Local News, p. 1. 11 Keith L. Bryant, Jr., History of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway (New York: Macmillan, 1974; reprint Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 2 (page citations are to the reprint edition).


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section details Fred Harvey‟s life from his early work in restaurants to his meeting with

Charles F. Morse, the superintendent of the Santa Fe railway that would change his life

forever. Creating spectacular restaurants, the Harvey Houses, attempted to introduce

Victorian culture to what was believed to be the wild and adventurous West.

Chapter Two focuses specifically on the Harvey Girls. It can be argued that

without the women he hired to work in his restaurants his rise to fame would not be as

memorable. The Harvey Girl gave rise to pink-collar jobs, in other words the rise of

women into the labor force specifically the service industry.12 Looking at the work

culture inside the Harvey House and the distinctiveness of the Harvey Girl in the work

force as compared to other working women at the time is the focus of this chapter.

Harvey Girls not only accepted a position with the Harvey Company, but many also

remained in the west after their tenure was up. Once a Harvey Girl decided to marry and

stay in the west she often became involved in the community further enhancing her iconic

image.

Chapter Three traces the changes resulting from two world wars, an economic

depression, and the rise of the automobile. All of these factors contributed to the

eventual decline of the Harvey system, but with the remaining Harvey Houses the

company worked hard to make them enjoyable, striving to offer the same quality of

experience as before. The war years were especially hard on the Harvey Houses. Not

only did employees go off to war leaving the restaurants shorthanded, but the troop trains

were increasing the number of customers the Harvey employees were used to serving

12 Kathleen M. Barry, Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants ( Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), 8.


8

each day. However, it was ultimately the creation of highways and the popularity of

driving that undermined the Harvey Houses. To combat the decline of service at the

Harvey House and to reinstall the original service standards a Harvey Girl contest was

created. The 1940s saw new interest in the Harvey Girls in popular culture. A book and

subsequent movie named, The Harvey Girls drew attention to the women that made Fred

Harvey famous and his Victorian ideals that served as the basis of his restaurants.

Chapter Four examines towns‟ contemporary efforts to preserve the Harvey

Houses in their communities. As the restaurants closed in the mid-twentieth century the

buildings fell into disrepair. By the end of the century the few Harvey Houses that

remained standing were being targeted for demolition. Citizens began looking for ways

to save a piece of their past. This chapter specifically details a West Texas railroad town,

Slaton. Slaton was created by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to service four

daily northbound and southbound trains between Amarillo, Texas and Sweetwater,

Texas. As Slaton became the largest division point in the Santa Fe system the town

established a post office, banks, a newspaper, and school system. Other industries like

cotton farming also increased the size of the town by adding a cotton gin and mill, lumber

yard, dry goods and grocery stores, which in turn led to population growth and a

decreased reliance on the railroad.13

Much like the movie starring Judy Garland, “Fred Harvey evokes a rush of

memory, nostalgia for a time in our country when traveling was slower but more stately,

when dining along the way was more than an easy-on, easy-off freeway operation.”14

13 Slaton, Texas Official Website, “Slaton, Texas Your Kind of Town,” http://www.slaton.tx.us. 14 “Those were the Days,” Fred Harvey Yesterday and Today, August-September 1976, 4.


9

“Mr. Harvey‟s work was that of a pioneer. He was the first man in the west to see the

advantage of caring well for the railroad travelers and his energy and force of character

was demonstrated by his carrying to a successful termination, a venture thought by many

to be impossible.”15 Yet social history is defined as “history from below” because it

deals with everyday people and their contributions to history rather than the leaders. As

Lesley Poling-Kempes argues the Harvey Girls were a group of unimportant people. Yet,

these unimportant women who managed to move west at a time when moving west was

not widespread are the ordinary people who came to shape the Southwest. Quoting

Poling-Kempes, “In examining their lives [the Harvey Girls], we examine the origins of

our own.”16

15 Robert L. Smith, “Fred Harvey,” Motor Coach Age, August-September 1983, 9. 16 Poling-Kempes, xii.


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CHAPTER II

MAINTAINING QUALITY REGARDLESS OF COST

There was little about Harvey to suggest a Roman proconsul bringing the enlightened

authority of the Empire to the farthest reaches of Gaul or Asia Minor. Nor, except for a

common English ancestry and background, was there much about the mild-mannered

man of pots and sauces to suggest the shapers of the British reign who for three abundant

centuries gave Britannia dominion over palm and pine. And yet on a scale and to a

degree of perfection that has become part of the folklore of the trans-Mississippi West,

Harvey imposed a rule culinary benevolence over a region larger than any Roman

province and richer than any single British dominion save India.1

One of the greatest partnerships in the food industry began with a handshake

between Fred Harvey and Charles F. Morse, superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka, and

Santa Fe Railway. With this handshake an agreement was made that Harvey would open

and maintain restaurants along the Santa Fe Line and, in return, Santa Fe guaranteed

stops at these restaurants regularly. Predominately, Harvey would service the train

passengers; businessmen or vacationing families, but at times local residents would enter

his establishments. The locals transplanted from the East tended to have an easier time at

the Harvey House while cowboys and miners at times needed to be reminded of the

manners expected in a fine restaurant. This agreement would allow each company to

become successful. Harvey wanted to own and operate some of the best restaurants in

the United States and the railroad wanted to attract more customers to its line.2 When

Fred Harvey built the Harvey House System along the Santa Fe Railway he

1 Lucius Beebe, “Purveyor to the West,” The American Heritage, vol. 28, no. 2, (February 1967), 28. 2 Lesley Poling-Kempes, The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened The West (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1991), 35.


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revolutionized restaurants not only west of the Missouri River, but throughout the United

States. Harvey eventually became famous not only for the women he moved west to

work in his restaurants, but also for never settling for less than the best in his restaurants.

Harvey‟s slogan “maintaining quality regardless of cost” was more than a slogan; it was a

way of life in his company.3 And that way of life, was about bringing and recreating

Victorian food and service that catered to the commercial travelers‟ definition of

“civilization.”

The meaning of “civilization” is filled with controversy and threats to indigenous

cultures. Bringing forth “civilization” to the American west often invokes images of the

United States cavalry and violence or the railroad and economic expansion. Yet, Fred

Harvey, who perhaps thought of himself as the “greatest civilizer”, wanted to settle the

west not with guns, but with a decent meal in elegant surroundings where “please” and

“thank you” were common courtesies and cleanliness and respectability were expected.4

All were symbols of the Victorian culture that he was so familiar with both in London

and the United States.

The nineteenth century brought about changes to the American West. As

transportation began to push the American borders west those who populated the area,

besides the Indians, who were already there, were mountain men, cowboys, soldiers,

farmers, miners, and desperados seemingly all male and all white and certainly from a

rougher station in life than Harvey.5 Food epitomized class and culture differences.

3 Script “Contact Men,” box 5, folder 84, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 4 Beebe, 28. 5 Elizabeth Jameson and Susan Armitage, ed., Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the Women’s


12

While meats like buffalo and antelope were in abundance, fruits and vegetables were a

challenge to the western settlers. Cooking took place in campfires or pits causing the

meat to be tough, or it might be added into a stew to mingle with other ingredients. Cast-

iron kitchen ranges which existed in the east would not be offered in the west until the

railroads lowered the freight tariffs. Therefore, before Fred Harvey began serving meals

one could not obtain Victorian meals with all of their courses in the American West.

Ultimately, it was Harvey‟s negotiating skills that allowed his kitchens to be stocked with

the most modern of equipment and finest foods, and to produce meals that would suit the

taste of any businessmen.6

For hundreds of years men have been moving west to gain and expand their

region. Europeans began colonizing the west to gain resources in the Americas, and

eventually the Americans began the same process of moving west of the Appalachians

for larger resources as well.7 For the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) the

dream of going west was greater for no other than Colonel Cyrus K. Holliday, founder of

the railway. There were visionaries before Holliday who saw the railroads as a vehicle to

greater commerce and communication through westward expansion and settlement, but it

was Holliday that planned on reaching the Pacific Ocean first.8 Holliday moved to the

Kansas Territory in 1854 with dreams of beginning a railroad from Kansas to Santa Fe.

There were others who believed as Holliday and were struggling to start railroads in

West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 3. 6 George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin, The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining Along The

Santa Fe Railroad (Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1992), 1-2. 7 Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher, Frontiers: A Short History of the American West (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 1-2. 8 Keith L. Bryant, Jr., History of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway (New York: Macmillan, 1974; reprint Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 2 (page citations are to the reprint edition).


13

Kansas as well, knowing they could turn a profit if they were the first to cross the

Southwest. Holliday managed to write a charter for his railroad that charted his course

west with the backing of an influential Board of Directors. The move west for the ATSF

was not rapid and consistently required fundraising to continue its efforts with many

obstacles to overcome, both financial and natural. As the tracks were laid, towns were

created in their midst, but rudimentary ones at that. One way or the other the ATSF

builders managed to find the money to continue building their railroad. Once the Santa

Fe reached Dodge City in 1872 they were truly in the frontier where all they met were

cowboys, Indians, gamblers and prostitutes. The closer they drew to Colorado the more

problems were accrued by the crews. All employees of the ATSF began to arm

themselves for protection from robbery. Crossing into Colorado was the railroads first

big hurdle, with that accomplished they were ready to continue.9 In 1869, the Atchison,

Topeka and Santa Fe reached Santa Fe, New Mexico allowing Holliday the satisfaction

of proving to his naysayers his vision had become a reality. Before Holliday passed away

in 1900 he was able to see his railroad cross to the Pacific Ocean, fulfilling his dream and

much more.10 The movement west was now easier and passenger travel increased. The

ATSF attracted many of those customers by offering low fares, good service, and “Meals

by Fred Harvey.”11

Frederick Henry Harvey was born in London, England on June 27, 1835. He

would become an American citizen in 1858. Harvey arrived in the United States at the

age of fifteen and began working in restaurants in New York, New Orleans, and St. 9 Poling-Kempes, 12-16. 10 Bryant, 63. 11 Poling-Kempes, 28.


14

Louis. The first job Harvey accepted was in New York as a busboy at the Smith and

McNeill Cafe. That job paid two-dollars-a-week. In New Orleans Harvey put his

previous restaurant experience to work and found employment in some of the finest

restaurants New Orleans had to offer. Unfortunately, he came down with yellow fever

and had trouble maintaining his employment. He then moved to St. Louis. At first,

Harvey worked as a jeweler and a merchant-tailor. These jobs allowed Harvey to raise

enough money to open a restaurant.12

The first American “restaurants” were located in taverns and inns where patrons

met to discuss politics and literature. In the nineteenth century as travel increased small

hotels were built to accommodate the travelers which were predominately male.

Delmonico‟s was the first formal restaurant that opening in 1827 in New York, and at

first there were few who knew what to do with such an establishment. Up to this time

meals were traditionally ate at home unless one was traveling.13 But times were changing

in the United States and with the emergence of business travelers came hotels that now

included meals and lodging. The organization of the hotels and restaurants were modeled

on those in Europe, therefore, unaccompanied women were not allowed to be patrons and

men were employed by the establishments. The industry justified male-only staffs by

explaining men were more capable of carrying the trays loaded with dishes and food than

their female counterpart.14

12 James David Henderson, “Meals By Fred Harvey” A Phenomenon of The American West (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1967), 2. 13 Alison Owings, Hey, Waitress! The USA From the Other Side Of The Tray (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), 9. 14 Dorothy Sue Cobble, Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), 18.


15

Fred Harvey decided in 1857 to open a restaurant with a partner in St. Louis.

The restaurant was doing well until the outbreak of the Civil War. First, due to the war,

business declined. Then, there were differences of opinion between Harvey and his

partner about the war. Harvey was a supporter of the Union. His partner supported the

Confederacy. Eventually, Harvey‟s partner took what money there was and disappeared.

The restaurant had to be closed.15 By this time Fred Harvey had married and had a

family to support. He gave up his restaurant idea, at least for a time, and took a job with

the Missouri River Packet Company in St. Joseph, Missouri. This time, Harvey

contracted typhoid fever. After he recovered and regained his strength, Harvey took a job

at the St. Joe Post Office. Around this time the chief mailing clerk, W.A. Davis, came up

with an idea to save time. He decided the mail could be sorted on the train from point to

point. On July 26, 1862 Davis‟ idea was put into use and Fred Harvey was one of the

men to who worked on the train, sorting mail from St. Joseph to Quincy.16

Eventually, Fred Harvey accepted a job with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy

Railroad, rising to freight agent. This job allowed Harvey to permanently move his

family to Leavenworth, Kansas. While working for the railroad Harvey experienced

firsthand the bad food and hotels that were offered along the railway, and he believed he

could provide a better alternative. At this time, eating along the railroads was usually

done at a person‟s own risk to their health. Most eating establishments, prior to

Harvey‟s, were run by anyone in the area who was trying to make a buck. The food was

15 Foster and Weiglin,15. 16 Robert L. Smith, “Fred Harvey,” Motor Coach Age, August-September 1983, 8.


16

tough and old, making it all the less appetizing and, at times, poisonous.17 The meal

most commonly served was beans, soda biscuits, and coffee. The food was either

overcooked or undercooked. Any luxury, such as linen and china, was never a

consideration.18 The meal stops were generally open ten to twenty long minutes and the

trains would often leave the station before the meal, that had already been purchased,

could be served. Many times the meal would be served but within a few minutes the train

passengers were called to re-board the train. The food that was left uneaten was then put

back into the pan it came from to be served to the next train that rolled through. It later

became known that this practice of serving and reserving meals was a scam between the

restaurant owners and the railroad employees.19 Railroad employees and the restaurant

owners often split profits on the untouched meals, allowing both to make a profit from

the passengers. The average price of a meal was fifty cents. The restaurant owner would

allow ten cents per customer to be paid to the railroad men.20

Those who did not eat at the meal stops would bring their own lunches with them

to eat on the trains. Due to the amount of time spent on the trains the lunches often

brought a horrible smell with them. Refrigeration was not an available option to the

passengers and the temperature in the train car would get hot causing the food, once fresh

from home, to spoil or smell. Even after the lunches were eaten, or disposed of, the smell

17 R.J. “Bart” Barton. “Dining Railway Style,” Journal of the West 31 (January 1992): 31. 18 Carla Kelly, “No More Beans! The Restaurants That Won The West,” American History Illustrated,

(October 1981), 42. 19

James A. Cox. “How Good Food and Harvey „skirts‟ won the West,” Smithsonian, September 1987, 130. 20 “Harvey Food Helped Build The West,” The Morrell Magazine, May 1946, 4.


17

often lingered on in the train cars. The smell, in turn, would attract flies that would stay

on the train for the rest of the trip.21

Fred Harvey decided to open his own restaurant to upgrade the quality of food

service on train routes and cater to the needs of train passengers. To obtain this goal

Harvey continued his employment with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy as well as

taking a part-time job with the newspaper. Harvey also went into partnership with Jeff

Rice to open restaurants along the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Together they opened two

restaurants; one in Wallace, Kansas and another in Hugo, Colorado. Due to financial

restraints Harvey was unable to quit his job to work in the restaurants. The standards

Harvey wanted and expected in the restaurants were not kept in place. Rice, on the other

hand, found the quality of the restaurants to his standards and, since they were profitable,

he did not see a reason to change the operation. Their disagreement could not be

resolved and the restaurants were closed within a year.22

Still believing he could fix the problems of eating while traveling by train, Fred

Harvey took his ideas to the managers of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy explaining

that the railroad line that established good restaurants would be the line that drew more

customers. However, the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy did not want to experiment

with the food service industry and turned down Fred Harvey‟s suggestion. Harvey did

not give up so easily and eventually went to Charles F. Morse at the Santa Fe Railway.

What Harvey did not know was that right before he went to speak with Morse, Santa Fe

had a horrible experience with food service when several dignitaries were riding with

21 Bryant, 107. 22 Poling-Kempes, 34.


18

them. On an excursion trip with senior members of the railroad, legislators, and other

officials, the train ran into a blizzard causing the trip to take longer than expected. There

was not enough food and the restaurants along the railroad tracks proved to be inferior to

what they were used to eating. To save face, Santa Fe decided to allow Fred Harvey to

open a restaurant in Topeka, Kansas and, depending on its success or failure, more

business deals would be decided in the future. By adding quality food service to the

industry Santa Fe leaders would show that they cared about their customers who

originally were the single business men or travelers and in the twentieth century patrons

from both the lower and middle class. Both men shook hands in agreement and their

business partnership began in 1876.23

Harvey began his agreement with ATSF by opening a lunch counter in Topeka,

Kansas. Harvey‟s idea was not only to provide the best restaurant that served the

railway, but to create the finest restaurant in the country. First, Harvey bought out an

existing restaurant on the second floor of the depot, shut down the restaurant for two days

to remodel, then the lunch counter opened with new linen, silverware, and a higher

quality of food. Guy Potter was hired to manage the restaurant, maintaining Fred

Harvey‟s standards. The lunch counter opened with great success, with a varied menu

and reasonable prices. For once, the passengers and railroad employees were able to eat

a decent meal west of the Missouri River.24

The restaurant became so successful, in fact, that people traveling west were

detraining in Topeka and not returning to the trains to go farther west but staying on in

23 Foster and Weiglin, 23. 24 Poling-Kempes, 36.


19

Topeka. Fearful that the Southwest would not be populated west of Topeka, Santa Fe

asked Fred Harvey to expand his business further down the railroad. By expanding the

business, the traffic would not back up in Kansas and the Western movement would

continue.25 Fred Harvey agreed and signed an exclusive contract with Santa Fe on

January 1, 1878. Harvey generally preferred to keep things simple with verbal

agreements, but the business was growing and a written contract was now in order.

The second Harvey House was created in Florence, Kansas this time with a hotel

attached as well that catered to elite travelers and their embrace of Victorian culture. The

Clifton Hotel was purchased and, as before, remodeled to fit Harvey‟s standards. Irish

linen, French china, and English silver were purchased to outfit the facility. Harvey sent

his sister out to purchase the mattresses for the hotel with instructions to find only the

best. One way to judge this, he told her, was to only buy mattresses for the hotel that you

would personally place in your own home. Harvey then went out to purchase rugs,

hangings, and furniture that met his approval and standard. The furniture consisted of

some of the finest walnut pieces one could find. Harvey‟s hotel was not only enjoyed by

the customers that came as travelers on the railroad, but from the city of Florence as well.

In the summer of 1879, the Florence paper advertised the use of the hotel‟s bathrooms to

women every Tuesday and Friday. On the other days men would be allowed to come by

and use the facilities.26

25 Leavenworth Times (Leavenworth, Kansas), 16 May 1957. 26 “Department of Promotions “Fred Harvey History,” box 6, folder 120, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.


20

An unconventional business plan resulted in quality food and pleasant rooms at

moderate prices which in turn created great business for the hotel.27 As tourism in the

west became more popular with the upper-class Americans and Europeans, Fred Harvey

and the Santa Fe, never wanting to miss an opportunity, began to cater to those willing to

pay for a vacation.28 When it came time to fill the kitchen help, for example, Harvey

went to Chicago to entice the chef he wanted to work for him. The result was hiring a

chef for $5,000 a year; an unheard of salary for that time. As the years progressed

Harvey strove to train his own chef rather than attempt to hire one away from another

restaurant. By doing this, he felt he would get better results. After the first few

restaurants opened, however, he found he did not have time to personally train the chefs

as he would have liked and so he hired his chefs from Europe.29

Besides the great chef hired at a fantastic wage, the townspeople of Florence were

amazed at the prices Fred Harvey would pay for fresh food for his restaurant. A dozen

prairie chickens were being bought for $1.50, a dozen quail for $.75, butter was $.10 a

pound, and the highest prices anyone had heard of were being paid for fresh fruits and

vegetables. It seemed amazing that a town with the population of 100 people would offer

such fine cuisine. It certainly suggested that he was catering to tastes of the upper class.30

The first contract between Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad was to run for

five years. In its formal contract Santa Fe agreed to stop at the mainline Harvey Houses

twice a day. If for any reason the train did not stop at the Harvey House for customers to

27 Byron Harvey, box 3, folder 31, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 28 Poling-Kempes, 147-148. 29 Ibid., 78. 30 Cox, 133.


21

eat, the railroad company would pay the Harvey Houses an agreed upon amount for the

loss of business. This agreement was to make the transaction with the Santa Fe Railroad

worthwhile for Fred Harvey as well as for the railroad.31 Due to the success of the Fred

Harvey eating houses and the advantage the restaurants gave Santa Fe, it renewed the

contract when it ran out. The second contract signed between Fred Harvey and the Santa

Fe Railroad gave Harvey exclusive rights to the food service west of the Missouri River

on the Santa Fe Railway. Another aspect of the contract was that the Santa Fe agreed to

transport the fuel, ice, water, and the Harvey House employees for free. Travelers were

choosing the Santa Fe Railroad over other railroad companies because they knew they

would receive high quality food on their travels with Santa Fe while with other railroads

they still risked hazardous eating establishments along the way. The benefits Santa Fe

gave Fred Harvey proved financially beneficial to the restaurants.32

Fred Harvey believed in supplying his restaurants and hotels with the finest

products to ensure his customers satisfaction. Every other year the Harvey‟s traveled to

Europe to pick out the linen tablecloths and napkins, silver serving pieces and eating

utensils, crystal glassware, and china that would be used in his restaurants. Fred Harvey

would routinely inspect his restaurants to make sure his high standards were being

maintained. If the china or glassware had a crack in them, Harvey would break them to

make sure they were never used again. Stories of Fred Harvey pulling tablecloths off

tables to send the cracked or chipped items flying onto the floor were legendary. Harvey

was also known to check the uniforms, employees‟ fingernails, food lockers, and other

31 Henderson, 44. 32 Foster and Weiglin, 26.


22

facilities. White gloves were used to check the tops of doors, picture frames, and corners

to make sure the restaurant was clean. These inspections were done by surprise with no

warning given to the local managers so that everyone would be on guard at all times.33

Food was another aspect of the business Harvey did not scrimp on. Fred Harvey

did not believe in using canned food. He had fresh fruits and vegetables shipped in from

California and fine meats shipped in from Kansas City. Local farms were found to

supply fresh foods, giving Harvey an advantage over other restaurants in the area who

could not afford the higher prices for fresh foods. A portion of the goods that were

purchased from the local farmers were prairie chickens, quail, butter, and vegetables.34

Harvey‟s policy was to buy the best and pay fair prices. Water in small towns often came

from alkali-laden streams so Fred Harvey had his water brought in by tank car so that the

coffee would taste better. It is no surprise that Harvey‟s purchases were viewed by many

as extravagant.35

As guests traveled Harvey wanted their menus to be varied from stop to stop.

Therefore, menus were coordinated so that you did not duplicate meals on a trip. Here is

a sampling of menus on a 1915 trip from San Diego to Kansas City by the Aetna Life

Insurance Company Agents:

33 Cox. 134. 34 Henderson, 12. 35 Eugene Whitmore, “Customer Good-Will a la Fred Harvey,” American Business, July, 1938, 3.


23

LUNCHEON Oxtail Anglaise Consommé Jelly

Celery Bur Gherkins

Fried Sand Dabs, Sauce Remoulade

Lobster Cutler, Cardinal

Chicken Pie, Americaine

Omelette with Fresh Fruit

Mashed Potatoes Brussels Sprouts

COLD

Salmon, Mayonnaise

Assorted Meats Ox Tongue

Romaine and Orange Salad

Diplomat Pudding, Vanilla Sauce

Neufchatel Toasted Crackers

Casaba Melon

Coffee Tea Milk

DINNER Canapé Caviar

Puree of Peas, St. Germaine Consommé in Cup

Celery Salted Almonds

Boiled Salmon, Hollandaise

Potatoes Persil lade Cucumbers

Calf Sweetbreads, Villeroi

Peach a la Conde

Filet Mignon, Béarnaise

Roast Young Duck, Fruit Compote

Candied Sweet Potatoes Lima Beans

Water Cress Salad

Pistachio Ice Cream Assorted Cakes

Roquefort Neufchatel

Coffee


24

BREAKFAST Sliced Peaches Casaba Melon

Stewed Prunes

Cream of Wheat Rolled oats

Corn Flakes

Codfish Cakes and Bacon

Diced Chicken with Green Peppers

Virginia Ham with fried Tomato

French Toast, Orange Marmalade

Lamb Chops

Eggs as Desired

Julienne Potatoes Baked Potato

Rice Cakes and Honey

Rolls Toast Muffins

Coffee Tea Cocoa

LUNCHEON

Vegetable Soup

Radishes Ripe Olives

Baked Barracuda, Portugaise

Fricandeau of Veal, Vert Pre

Spaghetti, Italienne

Roast Ham, Champagne Sauce

Potatoes rissole Fried Egg Plant

COLD Roast Beef Turkey

Grape Fruit Salad

Fruit Pudding, Raspberry Sauce

Vanilla Ice Cream

Petit Gruyere Toasted Crackers

Coffee Tea Milk


25

DINNER

Canapé Othello

Cream of Chicken a la Reine Consommé, Hot or Cold

Celery Salted Pecans

Filet of Halibut, Remonlade

Parisienne Potatoes Cucumbers

Lamb Chops, D’Uxelles

Queen Fritters, Sabayon

Prime Ribs of Beef au Aug

Mashed Potatoes String Beans

Roast Squab au Cresson

Tomatoes Mayonnaise

Peach Ice Cream Assorted Cakes

Roquefort Eromage de Brie

Coffee

BREAKFAST

Cantaloupe Sliced Oranges

Hominy Oatmeal

Grape Nuts

Boiled Salt Mackerel

Roast Beef Hash, Southern Style

Lamb Kidneys, en Brochette

Omelette with Fresh Mushrooms

Ham Bacon

Mutton Chops

Eggs as Desired

Potatoes Sauté Baked Potato

Corn Cakes with Maple Syrup

Rolls Toast Muffins

Coffee Tea Cocoa

LUNCHEON

Puree of Navy Beans Tomato Bouillon in Cup

Celery Young Onions

Finnan Haddie, Delmonico

New England Boiled Dinner

Eggs, Viennoise

Saddle of Mutton, Cumberland

Potatoes au Grautin Hubbard Squash


26

COLD

Assorted Meats

Ham Tongue

Hearts of Lettuce

Apple Tapioca Pudding

Swiss Cheese Toasted Crackers

Coffee Tea Milk

DINNER Casaba Melon

Cream of Cauliflower Bouillon in Cup

Radishes Ripe Olives

Baked Lake Trout, aux Fines Herbs

Persile Potatoes Cucumbers

Fresh Mushrooms, Hoteliere

Apple Portugaise

Prime Ribs of Beef au Aus

Mashed Potatoes Spinach in Cream

Combination Salad

Pineapple Ice Cream Assorted Cakes

Roquefort Petit Gruyere

Coffee

BREAKFAST

Persian Melon Baked Apple

Stewed Prunes

Rolled Oats Boiled Rice

Shredded Wheat

Sea Bass Sauté, Meuniere

Corned Beef Hash, O’Brien

Calf’s Liver, Country Style

Broiled Ham Broiled Bacon

Sirloin or Tenderloin Steak

Eggs as Desired

French Fried Potatoes Potatoes Minced in Cream

Wheat Cakes and Maple Syrup

Rolls Toast Muffins

Coffee Tea Cocoa


27

LUNCHEON Cream of Fresh Tomato

Celery Mangoes

Fried Oysters with Bacon

Chicken Patty a la Toulouse

Beef a la Mode, Potato Pancake

Omelette with Asparagus Tips

Potatoes, Delmonico New Peas

COLD Assorted Meats Whitefish, Ravigote

Potato Salad

Cabinet Pudding, Claret Sauce

Caprera Toasted Crackers

Coffee Tea Milk

Harvey‟s choices on his menus show his desire to offer an elegant and

sophisticated meal to his upscale clientele. By 1915 Harvey had already changed travel

in the United States by offering great wares. Eating could now be an elaborate

experience, rather than simply a means to sustain oneself while traveling in the west.

Harvey had proven the same meal did not have to be served at every stop, in fact creative

meals could be possible with some forethought and planning. The menus and meals

planned by Harvey were to be served in all of his restaurants, from the Kansas plains to

tourist destinations in Arizona. Even as more restaurants were catering to the working

and middling classes, Harvey Houses continued to serve food not commonly found in a

person‟s home or diner. For example, Harvey prided himself on being able to serve fresh

meats, such as salmon, veal, filet mignon, and oysters that he believed would be healthier

and not cause gastronomic pains like he had experienced previously on the railroad.36

36 Menus, box 4, folder 98, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.


28

Not only were the restaurants to be nice and refined, but Harvey expected his

customers to act in the same fashion. One way to ensure this was by setting standards

detailing how one could act and dress inside his restaurants. The “coat rule” was enacted

for the main dining rooms. The rule stated that men were to wear dinner jackets in the

dining room. If one did not have their own jacket they would not be turned away, but

instead loaned a dinner jacket that was kept on hand by the restaurants. Until 1921 there

were no reports that anyone questioned this rule or ever disobeyed it. Then Campbell

Russell, Chairman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, was in Purcell where he

was denied entrance without a coat. Russell fought this rule for three years, ending up in

the Oklahoma Supreme Court where the judge sided with Fred Harvey.37

While anyone was welcome in a Harvey House there were standards to be

maintained. Not only did patrons have to wear a coat they were not allowed to swear in a

Fred Harvey establishment. In New Mexico when a group of cowboys entered the hotel

on their horses they complained that the hotel was “too damned nice” and so they shot

dishes off the table and pictures off the walls as a form of protest as they demanded food

to be served to them. Harvey stepped in front of the men stating the no swearing rule and

pointing out the fact that ladies were present. Then, he demanded the men leave his

restaurant. It has been reported the men later returned to apologize to Harvey. As the

story goes, their apology resulted in them being treated with a free dinner as long as they

wore a coat.38 Harvey always believed coats like manners were a necessary part of men‟s

attire especially in first class restaurants.39

37 Henderson, 25. 38 Fred Harvey, box 6, box 124-126, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and


29

If Fred Harvey expected his guests to act a certain way then he expected his

employees to treat each customer with the same kind of standards. Another famous Fred

Harvey story starts with Fred Harvey walking through one of his restaurants when he

heard a customer complaining about the service and food. Harvey asked, “What is all the

trouble?” The steward answered, “Oh, that man is a crank. No one can please him.” “Of

course he is a crank, but we must please him. It is our business to please cranks. Anyone

can please a gentleman,” Harvey replied.40 This shows how Harvey wanted all of the

customers regardless of their attitudes to be shown the utmost care while in his

establishments.

Overall, the policies kept by the Harvey system were not to gain short term high

profits, but to look at the long term. The most important profits to the company were the

ones that continued year after year. Over the years there were opportunities to provide a

lower quality product and yet raise the prices that were charged, but Harvey refused to do

this. Regardless of who his patrons were or where they came from in life Harvey

expected his business to maintain its integrity and uphold certain cultural standards.41

There was one manager that had a monthly deficit of $1,000 so he found a way to cut

corners and save the company $500. Harvey, believing his standards were more

important than saving money, fired the manager. The manager was later rehired at

another location where he did not make the mistake of cutting corners again.42

Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 39 Bryant, 332. 40 Whitmore, 1. 41 Byron Harvey, box 3, folder 31, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 42 Kelly, 46-47.


30

Due to Fred Harvey‟s diligence and care his reputation exceeded everyone‟s

original dreams of travel and fine dining. When well-to-do travelers saw “Meals by Fred

Harvey” on the advertisements they knew the quality they would receive. But ultimately

what completed the image of bringing “civilization” to the West was not just the food or

dishes on which they were served but the girls that carried the trays. The next chapter

looks at the girls Fred Harvey hired to serve his famous meals. Breaking with long

standing practices of hiring male waiters Harvey changed cultural standards by hiring

women who would be symbols of wholesome, middle-class standards of etiquette and

gentility.


31

CHAPTER III

THE HARVEY GIRL: THE KIND YOU MARRY

When Fred Harvey originally opened his restaurants he followed the standards of

the time in regard to gender and hired exclusively men to serve his customers. In 1883 at

a Harvey House in Raton, New Mexico, a group of male employees got into a fist fight

one evening and failed to report to work the next day. As luck (or bad luck) would have

it, Fred Harvey showed up in Raton for a surprise inspection that very day. Harvey

already was known to have tossed questionable managers out onto the railroad platforms

for the sake of professionalism. But, Tom Gable, Raton‟s manager, thinking quickly

came up with an innovative solution that did much more than simply save his job.

Instead of hiring men who were associated with insubordination and rowdiness, Gable

thought they should hire women to serve railroad passengers. Women had been

perceived as being more docile and easier to manage than their working-class male

counterparts.1 Customers and railroad employees were so pleased with the change at the

Raton Harvey House that Fred Harvey decided to place women in all of his restaurants.2

When Harvey began hiring women to wait tables in his restaurants he not only set in

motion transformations in the industry, but created an American icon, the “Harvey Girl.”

In the 19th century, only the poorest of women typically worked for wages outside

of the home. In order to make ends meet, women worked in manufacturing in female-

1George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin, The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining Along The

Santa Fe Railroad (Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1992), 75. 2 Lesley Poling-Kempes, The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened The West (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1991), 42.


32

dominated industries or in domestic service, an occupation seen as an extension of work

done in the home. Many dutiful daughters and mothers also engaged in outwork in which

they produced or assembled goods in their tenement flats that were then sold at piece-

rates to central shops. Wages were particularly meager, but respectability was rarely

questioned for women who remained primarily in the home.3 In the latter half of the

century, a few respectable occupations such as teaching became seen as suitable women‟s

work, but these jobs were not usually within reach for most working-class girls.4 For the

poor, prostitution was a frequent reminder not only of hard times families faced, but what

it typically meant when women ventured outside the home to serve men‟s needs.

Waitressing, in this day and time, was looked down upon because it involved

dealing with men often in unsupervised situations beyond the realm of the family.

Originally waitressing meant serving alcohol not necessarily food. Alcohol contributed

to the existing concerns since one‟s inhibitions were lowered and it was associated with

the male-dominated, working-class world of the saloons, prostitution, and gambling.5

Even fancy restaurants in hotels were off limits for women, because they served

exclusively male travelers and businessmen.6 Women who crossed the threshold of any

male sphere put themselves at odds with Victorian respectability.7 Women who ignored

social mores and worked in taverns and saloons relied heavily on tips to supplement their 3 Christine Stansell, City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789-1860 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1986), 114-115. 4 Alice Kessler-Harris, Out To Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), 57. 5 Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986), 17-18, 20-21. 6 Dorothy Sue Cobble, Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), 24. 7 Alison Owings, Hey, Waitress! The USA From the Other Side Of The Tray (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), 8.


33

income and these tips often came from socializing and flirting with the men they were

serving. Therefore, to be a waitress one spoke with unfamiliar and often different men on

a daily basis, tainting women who worked in restaurants and making waitressing a threat

to middle-class culture.8

Fred Harvey, being the brilliant restaurateur he was, came up with a solution to

this problem without compromising his embrace of Victorian propriety. He would

transform the image of the occupation and make waitressing respectable. This would

have been an important accomplishment for any restaurant, but an even greater feat for

places out West deemed barely “civilized.” Fred Harvey, would make it possible, not

only for young unmarried women to find employment, but for the West to remain an

adventurous place.9 First, he insisted that the women hired to wait tables in a Fred

Harvey restaurant were called Harvey Girls, never waitresses. To change the image of

the job, he had to change more than the name. Harvey‟s employees were to be

upstanding, educated and chaste women. For example, his ads in the papers read:

“Young women of good character, attractive and intelligent, 18 to 30, to work in Harvey

Eating Houses in the West.”,10 and in The Slaton Slatonite: “GIRLS WANTED for the

Fred Harvey service. Apply to Manager the Harvey House, Slaton, Texas.”11

Harvey often advertised in the East and Midwest for workers because there were

so few “respectable” women in the West at this time. He set up an employment agency

in Chicago to interview the women who wanted to be Harvey Girls. During the hiring

8 Cobble, 24. 9 Marion White, “The Harvey Girls,” The Woman, September 1945, 1. 10 Foster and Weiglin, 75. 11 The Slaton Slatonite (Slaton, Texas), 19 May 1916.


34

process, one‟s private life was dissected to ensure the Harvey Girl was a wholesome

young woman.12 After being hired in Chicago they were sent out west to work in one of

the numerous Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe line.13 In all, as many as 100,000

Harvey Girls came west from 1883 to the 1950s. Many of whom could have easily come

from working-class and rural backgrounds because the Harvey company paid for the

girls‟ transportation out west. At the same time, they could not have come from too

rough a station in life, because they had to meet middle-class notions of respectability

during their interview.14 A sense of adventure certainly could have crossed class

boundaries. A Harvey manager‟s wife was questioned by a patron one day as to the type

of girls working in the Harvey House. She replied, “The same as your daughters. Girls

from good homes and good backgrounds – who want to travel or get away from some

confining job.” Still townspeople on occasion looked down on the Harvey Girls.

Harvey Girl Laura White once attended a church service where the preacher said, “I‟d

rather see the girls in this congregation in hell than working at the Harvey House.”15

Harvey believing he had a good idea and not wanting the perception of the West

to taint his plans came up with a solution to preserve the girls respectability.16 In 1883,

when the Harvey Girls began working for Fred Harvey the West was still associated with

cowboys, railroaders, farmers, miners, and women who worked as prostitutes. Harvey

wanted to spread his business and values westward. By hiring “respectable” women to

12 Foster and Weiglin, 75. 13 Patrice Smart, “Those Harvey Girls: The story of Santa Fe depot waitresses who helped civilize the Old West,” Railroad Magazine , December 1964, 13-14. 14 Poling-Kempes, 52-54. 15 Laura White, “Harvey Girl,” Railroad Magazine, February 1945, 83. 16 Poling-Kempes, 43.


35

work in his restaurants Harvey was able to maintain the quality restaurants he wanted and

encourage men to look and act more like their East coast gentlemanly counterpart.17 But

controlling the behavior of his male clientele was far less of a concern than his female

employees upon which the reputation of his business rested.

Therefore, even when she was not at work, the Harvey Girl was to be closely

supervised. Thus Fred Harvey built dormitories for the Harvey Girls to live in. This

allowed the Harvey Company to ensure the women he hired were of good upstanding

character and maintained those characteristics as they served in his restaurants.18 Every

girl had a ten o‟clock curfew that was checked by one of the girls who had reached the

rank of supervisor. Missing curfew three times could result in a girl being fired from the

Fred Harvey Company. Exceptions to the curfew came during special occasions. If a

man wanted to see one of the girls he had to meet her in the chaperoned courting parlor.19

Over time these rules were not as rigid as at their conception. Harvey Girl, Rose

Farschon explained that the manager‟s wife “kept an eye on us [the Harvey Girls], she

knew what was going on cause we know she went in our rooms when we were working.

But, that was okay she never disturbed anything, but we knew she checked on things.”

By the 1940s curfews were also lifted. The girls were allowed to come and go as they

pleased as long as they made it in for their shifts.20

Rose Farschon worked in a General Merchandise store in Nebraska before

working at the Slaton Harvey House. Traveling to Slaton, Texas to attend a wedding

17 Foster and Weiglin, 75. 18 Cobble, 39. 19 James A. Cox. “How Good Food and Harvey „skirts‟ won the West,” Smithsonian, September 1987, 134. 20 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording.


36

Farschon decided she liked the area and after her aunt found her a job at the Harvey

House she decided to stay. During her employment at the Harvey House, 1936-1939,

Rose lived in the upstairs dormitories. The opportunity came up for Rose to work out in

the Grand Canyon at the Fred Harvey Houses and Hotels, but at that point she had met

her future husband and stayed in Texas.21

In 1926, Molly Johnson became a Harvey Girl in Slaton, Texas. Drought had

taken the family crop that year leaving the family desperate for money. Johnsons father

found the closest Harvey House after a relative who worked for the Harvey Company

bragged on what a great place it was to work. Taking Molly with him, he spoke to the

manager who agreed to hire Molly. With free room and board she was able to send her

monthly income back to her family. A little over a year later the manager handed

Johnson a ticket telling her she had been transferred to Vaughn, New Mexico, but first

she was granted two weeks at home. At both locations Molly worked the night shift so

she could attend high school during the day even though she would not graduate.

Johnson eventually quit her job to marry one of the cooks.22

To be sure, Harvey Girls who left their life and family to dedicate themselves to

their jobs may have liked the supervision, protection, and sense of family the Harvey

Organization provided. Isabel Hill, a former Harvey girl, explained that she thought of

the other girls she worked with as sisters. The Fred Harvey Organization had a family

feel and that was helped by the fact that the girls lived together at the Harvey House.23

21 Ibid. 22 Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording. 23 Ted J. Simon, “Trainload of Memories Slaton group lays tracks to restore Harvey House,” Lubbock

Avalanche Journal, 19 December 1991, Neighbors, p. 2.


37

No matter where they came from or where they were headed they all had one common

link, they were Harvey Girls. Molly Johnson tells of a time the Harvey Company stepped

in to take care of her. In 1927, when Johnson found out she was being transferred to the

Harvey House in Vaughn, New Mexico, she went to spend a few days with her family.

Her brother had contracted smallpox at school and unknowingly she had contracted the

disease while she was home, but not showing symptoms she boarded the train for New

Mexico. By the time she got off the train she had broken out and was sick. Instead of

sending her home the Harvey Company put her in a private room and called the company

doctor. Johnson remembers everyone taking care of her like she was their child until she

was ready to return to work.24

Even though Harvey Girls are the most famous employees of the Harvey House

half of the employees were men. There is much written on the Harvey Girls and what it

took for a woman to join the work force, but there is something to be said for the men and

boys that also joined the Harvey ranks. As a teenager Wendell Cranfill was approached

by the manager of the Slaton Harvey House to work as a busboy. Even though Cranfill

looked forward to taking the job his mother was not sold on the idea. She felt “working

around all those waitresses wasn‟t a good atmosphere for a boy that age.” Cranfill feels

his dad overruled his mother and he began his career as a Harvey House employee.

Cranfill‟s mother‟s attitude shows even by the 1920s there were still negative

connotations to men and women working outside of the home together. When Cranfill

graduated from high school he was approached by the Newsstand manager to take the

24 Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording.


38

night shift. Cranfill again began working at the Harvey House, but would eventually

leave when the Assistant Superintendant of the Railroad offered him the bill and voucher

clerk job in the accounting department for the railroad.25

The men held positions of managers, chefs, buyers, commissary superintendents,

and busboys. One of the jobs that the manager had to complete was to walk through the

restaurant and assure the customers that there was no hurry. Wendell Cranfill, a Harvey

busboy, recalled filling in for the manager from time to time. He would walk through the

dining room and say, “Passengers have 20 minutes for lunch ample notice will be given

before departure of the train.”26 The managers were able to keep track of the train

departures and they saw to it that the customers did not miss their trains. But most

importantly the managers did not want the customers to feel rushed while eating their

lunches.27 The staff of the Harvey House was to be ready for the guests before they ever

left the train. The sheer number of customers in such a short period of time made

efficiency all the more important. Before the train stopped the brakeman would find out

how many people wanted to eat at the Harvey House and the numbers were sent to the

teletype operator so that the restaurant could be prepared. As the travelers got off the

train a gong was rung so the people could find the Harvey House as quick as possible.28

25 Wendell Cranfill, interview by author, 26 April 2003, Lubbock, Texas, tape recording. 26 Ibid. 27 Keith L. Bryant, Jr., History of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway (New York: Macmillan, 1974; reprint Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 114 (page citations are to the reprint edition). 28 Rosa Walston Latimer, “The Harvey Girls,” Texas Highways, February 1992, 21.


39

Figure 1. Photograph of Slaton Harvey House Male Employees. Courtesy of the Slaton Museum.

Figure 2. Photograph of Slaton Harvey House Employees. Courtesy of the Slaton Museum.


40

When a train pulled in to the station, all employees of the Harvey House were

hard at work for the duration of the stay, but there was plenty of work to be done before

the trains arrived and after they left the station. Farschon remembered having to clean the

counters and the large coffee urns continuously. There were at least two coffee urns so

you could clean one while making coffee in the other. The coffee cups and saucers were

kept under the coffee urns in a warmer so that they were ready at any time. Of course,

accidents will happen as Farschon recalls. One of the other girls was to clean the coffee

urn, but the cleaner came in bar form, and she forgot the bar was inside and began

making a fresh pot of coffee. Needless to say, that pot of coffee would not have met

Harvey‟s standards. Luckily the mistake was quickly corrected. Many of the girls

learned that there was lots of work to be done, and in a pinch they could turn to the cooks

and busboys to help out.29

However, it was ultimately up to the Harvey Girl to make sure the guest was

happy. To do this, training manuals insisted the waitress was to smile, greet the

customer, and be courteous throughout the meal. The Harvey Girls were not at the

restaurant just to look pretty; they had a job to do as well. Therefore, training in the

Harvey Service was rigorous. The girls had an exact way to serve the food and treat the

customers. The role of the Harvey Girl was one of the most important in the company. If

the Harvey Girl did not do her job well then the customer would be unsatisfied causing

the customer to be unhappy. The Harvey Girl was to be courteous, interested, and

29 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording.


41

informed of the menu at all times to make the dinner an experience the customer would

want to repeat.30

Years later, former Harvey Girl, Kay Zavertnik summed up the qualities and

qualifications of a Harvey Girl with the following: “She must have the diplomacy of a

Winston Churchill, the social grace of an Emily Post, the speed of a Banshee jet, the

smile of a Greek Goddess, the patience of Job.” At the same time, she needed “the

memory of an elephant, the thick skin of a rhinoceros, the strength of an Atlas, the

staying power of a mother-in-law, the condition of a professional football lineman, and

the good feet of a Roger Bannister.” But it was also her manners and appearance that

matters. “She must have the grooming of a Duchess and the speaking voice of a

debutante; and last but not least she must have a love of humanity, for humans show their

worst side when they are hungry.” Also her relationship with her coworkers mattered.

“When she is gracious to her guests as well as to her associates, she has mastered the art

of serving the public.”31

Once the customers made it to the restaurant one Harvey Girl would take the

orders and then the drink girl would come by to fill up the glasses. Depending on the set

up of the cups the well-trained, drink girl knew exactly how to fill the glasses. A cup

placed right-side up in the saucer meant coffee. If the cup was upside down in the saucer

then hot tea was to be poured. When a cup was tilted against the saucer, iced tea was the

preferred drink. Milk was to be poured if the cup was upside down and away from the

30 Harvey Girl Training Manual, box 6, folder 109, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 31 Kay Zavertnik, “What a Waitress Should Be from a Waitress Viewpoint,” Fred Harvey Yesterday and

Today, August-September 1976, 2.


42

saucer.32 If a customer changed the place setting they might end up with the wrong drink.

This system was set up to accommodate all of the customers in a short period of time.

Harvey even had his own idea of how the girls were to take a customer‟s order.

The head waitress, also known as the “wagon boss”, became responsible for training the

girls in setting the tables. Orders were to be taken without the use of pencil and paper

and then the order was recited to the men in the kitchen. As the years progressed this

system did change and the waitresses were allowed to write the order down. Also, the

girls were not to talk to the customers while they were eating. They were not only taught

how to interact with customers but to serve them. The wagon boss, for example, made

certain that every table was to receive a clean white tablecloth and the linens were to be

spotless with no frayed edges. All glasses and dinnerware were to be inspected for chips

and removed if any were found. Learning to pour coffee without sloshing it was also of

importance.33

Indeed, the table was considered the first impression the guest received from the

restaurant. Therefore, the table was to be set properly every time. Placement of all place

settings for the table was dictated to the Harvey Girls in the training manuals. Salt,

pepper, and sugar were to be found in the center of the table if the table seats four. If the

table seats two then these items are to be pushed to the edge of the table next to the wall.

All of the silver should be half an inch from the edge of the table. The forks are to be

placed to the left of the service plate while the knives and spoons are to be to the right of

the plate. The bread and butter plate rested just above the forks. Glasses were to be at

32 Walston Latimer, 21. 33 Smart, 16.


43

the tip of the knife, and the blade of the knife should be facing the plate. Napkins were

the only item that may differ in placement from restaurant to restaurant.34

Like the service, the uniform was designed to accentuate the middle-class

etiquette of the girls. The uniforms were long sleeved black dresses with white “Elsie”

collars and a starched white apron. The skirts were to be eight inches from the floor, no

longer and no shorter. If a girl tried to change the length of the uniforms she would be

reprimanded and required to change immediately. Having any stains or imperfections on

the uniform would also result in the uniform being changed promptly. No makeup was to

be worn while working on the restaurant floor because it was associated with the type of

women that worked in the saloons. Jewelry, except for the Harvey pin, was not allowed

either. The hose and shoes were black. Their hair was to be in a net and tied with a

regulation ribbon.35

Figure 3. Photograph of the Slaton Harvey Girls. Courtesy of the Slaton Museum. 34 Harvey Girl Training Manual, box 6, folder 109, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 35 Foster and Weiglin, 76.


44

Fred Harvey provided laundry service to the girls to ensure the cleanliness of the

uniforms. Harvey understood what most did not. You have to pay for and help your

employees afford the appearance you desire. Even though Harvey was paying a decent

wage he knew that to keep the uniforms in the condition he preferred he had to launder

them for the girls and not make those expenses come out of their pockets. This is an

ongoing debate even in today‟s workforce. Naomi Klein addresses this in her book No

Logo. Talking to retail clerks Klein finds that companies are expecting their employees

to look a certain way, specifically professional and clean, yet many of these employees

can‟t afford to do their laundry.36

Despite rules and regulations, the reasons to become a Harvey Girl were as

numerous as the women who took the positions. Molly Johnson began working at the

Slaton Harvey House, at the age of 16, after a drought took her father‟s West Texas crops

in the 1920s. A cousin had been working at a Harvey House in Oklahoma and told the

family what a wonderful place it was to work; so Johnson‟s father researched the

company and found a Harvey House in Slaton, just 55 miles from their home. Taking

Molly with him, her father talked to the manager, and Molly began her career as a Harvey

Girl. At this time, Harvey Girls were making $30 a month so Johnson began sending her

pay home to help the family.37 In 1936, Rose Farschon traveled from Nebraska to Texas

to attend a family wedding. Not happy with her job in a General Merchandise Store back

home, Farschon mentioned to her aunt that if she had a job there (Slaton, Texas) she

believed she would stay. Her aunt responded, “I‟ll get you one.” Farschon‟s aunt was

36 Naomi Klein, No Logo (New York: Picador USA, 2000), 239. 37 Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording.


45

friends with the manager of the Harvey House and after talking to him Rose stayed in

Texas as a Harvey Girl.38

Figure 4. Photograph of the Slaton Harvey House. Courtesy of the Slaton Museum.

Being a Harvey Girl was different than working in sales or other restaurants in

that it offered young women adventure and the possibilities of a new life out West

including upward mobility. One of Harvey‟s biggest problems with hiring women was

turnover. Once women moved out West many would meet a man and then get married

causing them to quit their jobs. With relatively few women in the West, ranchers,

railroaders, and cowboys often met their future wives at the Harvey Houses. After

marriage Harvey Girls often became the society women that helped reform the rough and

tumble towns in the West. Nevertheless, a problem of a high turnover rates in staff

38 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording.


46

troubled Harvey to such a degree that each girl was required to sign a one-year contract

with the Harvey Company.39

Whether or not men met their wives, they often thought that they would and this

romantic image helped turn Harvey Girls from waitresses into icons. The Harvey Girls‟

beauty and charm were often remembered in poems like this one by S.E. Kiser:

Oh, the pretty Harvey Girl beside my chair,

A fairer maiden I shall never see,

She was winsome, she was neat,

she was gloriously sweet,

And she certainly was very good to me.”40

And this one by the Amarillo Globe reporter, John Moore;

One crisp December Morn –

Chilly was the day,

I sat behind my coffee

In a Harvey House Café.

Fred’s coffee is a nectar –

A beverage supreme,

And the girl who serves it

Adds glamour to my dream.

Since Congress made amendments

And set aside the toddy,

Harvey has a substitute

To cheer us, soul and body.

The aroma most enticing,

Blending with the steam,

The face across the hazy cup –

The vision of a queen.

I like my morning coffee,

39 Foster and Weiglin, 76-77. 40 S.E. Kiser, quoted by Tony Privett, “Harvey House, Slaton History Intertwined,” The Slatonite, 30 July 1992, p. 1.


47

Before the busy noon,

When she has time to chatter,

While I dally with my spoon.

All dressed in spotless linen,

Her hair all in a curl,

So purely sweetly winning,

Is the happy Harvey girl.41

To be sure, not everyone welcomed Harvey or his girls. Many began to believe

the “civilized” Harvey Houses ruined the old West. At first some complained about not

wanting to be accountable for the way they acted, for they knew if women were around

their way of living would be unacceptable. Harvey Girls changed the towns they moved

into. Once a Harvey Girl married and stayed out west she became part of the community

she had been working in. Gambling became less profitable as men were spending their

money courting Harvey Girls rather than playing cards. On the flip side church

attendance began to rise.42 Those who relished the disorder of the West fought to keep it

that way. Unexplained fires would happen at the Harvey Houses as well as ruined food

shipments, but the Santa Fe continued to believe in Fred Harvey and continued their

expansion west. Fred Harvey expected manners not only from his employees but from

his customers as well. Customers were to watch their language as well as wear

acceptable clothing.43

Overall, men were happy to see women moving out West. Some in an attempt to

improve their chances to marry a Harvey Girl sent off for a book called Behavior for All

41 John Moore, quoted in James David Henderson, Meals by Fred Harvey: A Phenomenon of The American

West (Fort Worth, Texas: Texas Christian University Press, 1969), 50. 42 Marion White, 3-4. 43 “Department of Promotions “Fred Harvey History,” box 6, folder 120, Fred Harvey Company

Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.


48

Occasions: A Manual of Gentlemanly Conduct in Ten Easy Lessons. The book cost 50

cents and the Elite Publishing Company made a fortune.44 At the end of the century it

was estimated that 20,000 Harvey Girls had married railroad engineers, conductors,

station agents, local merchants, and ranchers. There are even stories that 4,000 babies

were born to these couples that were named either Fred, Harvey, or both.45 Harvey

reasoned that if a girl made it six months in the west without an engagement ring then she

was usually good for three to four years of waiting tables.46

Two Harvey Girls recall meeting their husbands while working for Fred Harvey.

In the late 1920s Molly Johnson was working at the Vaughn, New Mexico Harvey House

along with a cook named Clyde Jordan. Employees were not allowed to marry Johnson

insisted. In fact they did not have dormitories for married couples. During the interview

Johnsons son Jake Jordan was present, reminding his mom, “They wouldn‟t allow you to

go together, would they mom?” When asked how they ended up married, Johnson

recalled, “Clyde was the cook in the kitchen. Well, I didn‟t pay attention to him when I

first went to work there because we weren‟t suppose too. You know. We weren‟t

suppose to flirt with anybody, but he put his eye on me.” Knowing it was not allowed

Johnson stayed clear of Clyde but he made his presence known to her. “When I would

start back there he would throw a pot lid at me or something.” Clyde and Molly never

officially dated since it was against the rules, but working together on the night shift they

got to know one another. Working on the same shift did not help at first as Johnson

44 Marion White, 3-4. 45 Cox, 134. 46 Carla Kelly, “No More Beans! The Restaurants That Won The West,” American History Illustrated,

(October 1981), 44.


49

recalls, “I didn‟t even like him. He was too fresh, too forward. My mother said to just

always watch that kind, you know. He wanted to be friends with me and I didn‟t. I just

wanted to learn how to be a waitress.” Eventually Johnson began talking to Clyde

because she thought he was very nice and friendly. Once they decided to marry they lost

their jobs ending up in Southern Oklahoma where Clyde began farming.47

Rose Farschon also married after meeting her future husband, Bill Farschon, at

the Harvey House, but he was a railroader, not a Harvey cook. Farschons cousin was

also working at the Harvey House and dating the night cashier, “he was the one that

dreamed up this double date idea.” At first, Bill was not interested because he already

had two girlfriends. Rose was not convinced when she first heard the idea either. “He

came and told me I have a date for you. I said, oh no you don‟t. I don‟t blind date. So

he brought him in and introduced him. He was the handsomest fellow I had ever seen

and he was so nice. I thought maybe I better reconsider. I went on the double date and

neither of us dated anyone else after that.”48

Not only has Fred Harvey been credited for “civilizing” the west but the Harvey

Girls had a profound influence. Previously, it has been attributed that the presence of

women led to the establishment of schools, churches, and libraries. Women were not

passive in these pursuits; women were the ones suggesting community projects and then

raising funds to see their ideas become realities.49 The West changed the traditional

views of women to some degree. Women in the West had the freedom to be active in the

47 Molly Johnson, interview by author, 22 March 2003, Jenks, Oklahoma, tape recording. 48 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording. 49 Susan Armitage and Elizabeth Jameson, ed., The Women’s West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 13-14.


50

community and enter into business ventures as long as they managed domestic duties of

caring for the children and the house.50 To be sure, some of the girls would fulfill their

contract and then return home, others would continue their employment with Fred

Harvey. However, there were many women who would marry and make their homes in

the West.51 Harvey may have lost many of his employees to marriage, but they in turn

helped settle the West much to his liking.

50 Poling-Kempes, 51. 51 Walston Latimer, 21.


51

CHAPTER IV

THE PORTRAIT OF A HARVEY GIRL

Eventually the railroad lost most of its prosperous passenger service business due

to wars and depression, yet the greatest problems came with the increased use of the

automobile and the airlines in the post World War II era. Numerous railroad lines had

challenged railroad companies to provide more services with faster delivery times. The

Santa Fe consistently reviewed their services to be competitive and profitable since the

late 19th century. In 1892, luxury trains were added to the line in hopes of drawing more

customers. Over the years, luxury trains on the Santa Fe were named the Limited, the

Missionary, the Saint, the Angel, Deluxe, the Navajo, the Scout, the Chief, the Super

Chief, and the El Capitan. With each new name came a round of improvements allowing

the trains to be larger, faster, and more fuel-efficient. To attract customers the Santa Fe

began renovating their tracks to allow the trains to move even faster.1 Technology,

increased services, and shorter travel times could not compete; however, with the

automobile and airlines. And with the decline of Santa Fes passenger travel came the

demise of the Harvey House. As the two companies pulled out of the small railroad

towns, the communities paid the ultimate price. The economic stability once enjoyed in

these communities disappeared as their reliable income source moved out.2 However,

Harvey House management would not give up without a fight. In the 1940s, the Harvey

1 Keith L. Bryant, Jr., History of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway (New York: Macmillan, 1974; reprint Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 332-336 (page citations are to the reprint edition). 2 Lesley Poling-Kempes, The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened The West (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1991), 182-183.


52

Girl was being called upon, once again, in attempt to save the day, not only for the

Harvey House but also for the Santa Fe Railway. A widely-publicized, company-wide

contest to find and celebrate the ideal Harvey Girl would hopefully turn things around

and remind customers of dining service that helped romanticize train travel. This chapter

looks not only at the changes that led to the decline of the Harvey company, but the

meaning of a contest designed not only to rescue the passenger service of the railroad but

resurrect gender roles reminiscent of turn-of-the-century Victorian culture displayed so

nicely in what became defined as the “Portrait of a Harvey Girl.”

At the turn of the century, the Harvey Company had planned to expand its

operation. During this rather prosperous time of expansion, Fred Harvey passed away on

February 9, 1901 after fifteen years of failing health. Due to Harvey‟s poor health,

strategies had already been in place so that little interruption to the business would take

place upon his death. Harvey himself stated in his will that business should go on as

usual. As a testament to business savvy and prior to Harvey‟s passing his sons, Ford and

Byron, had already taken the helm to ensure little disruption would occur.3 By 1901,

Fred Harvey had expanded his lunch counter in Topeka, Kansas to encompass fifteen

hotels, forty-seven restaurants, thirty railroad dining cars, and food service on the San

Francisco Bay ferry system. Sixteen years later the Fred Harvey Company expanded to

include one hundred Harvey Houses in the American West, the largest the company

would ever be.4

3 Ibid., 44. 4 Judi Morris, The Harvey Girls: The Women Who Civilized the West (New York: Walker and Company, 1994), 84-85.


53

While the death of Fred Harvey may not have changed his company, something

much bigger would. With the United States entering World War I the Harvey Houses

and the railroads would see a change and interruption in their services. In December

1917, President Wilson signed the Federal Possession and Control Act to speed up the

transportation of war materials. Hence, the U.S. Railroad Administration then ran the

railroads, stopping the luxury passenger service until 1920. The decline in travel would

also postpone The Harvey Company‟s continued plans to expand.5 The men and women

who had donned Harvey uniforms traded them in for the uniforms of the armed forces.

With their willingness to help out their country they left the Harvey Company in a lurch.

Harvey employees that had retired came out of retirement to help in a time of need for the

country and the Harvey Company. Retired employees began wearing the Harvey

uniform and serving the troops that rolled through the station.6 The Harvey Company

began advertising for help literally everywhere and the shortage caused them to hire

almost anyone who applied.7 Ultimately, the shortage resulted in lowering Harvey‟s

standards for the first time.

Efficiency and quick turn over was the rule, not fine dining. Laura White, a

former Harvey Girl, writes about her service at the Harvey House during World War I.

There were days the girls served three troop trains plus the regular trains and local

customers. One waitress could easily serve ninety-six soldiers during the day plus

regular customers. When things got really busy the girls had to clean their own tables

5 Robert L. Smith, “Fred Harvey,” Motor Coach Age, August-September 1983, 13. 6 Patrice Smart, “Those Harvey Girls: The story of Santa Fe depot waitresses who helped civilize the Old West,” Railroad Magazine , December 1964, 16. 7 Laura White, “Harvey Girl,” Railroad Magazine, February 1945, 80.


54

and reset the tables then let it be known by raising their hands that they were ready for the

next group to be seated. Troop trains, unlike regular passenger trains, stayed until every

man was served. By the end of the day, White writes that the girls dragged themselves to

bed ready for rest only to here the callboy shout, “Four o‟clock! Five hundred Marines

for breakfast this morning!” The morning would come and the girls would be at it again.8

Harvey Girl Gertrude Burton recalled the girls cheering and crying for the boys going to

war. With the soldiers doing their part to keep America safe the Harvey Girls did not

worry about the hours or the delays, but worked to serve those in the Armed Services and

then cheered them on as they left and rejoiced in their returning.9

Upon the conclusion of World War I travel picked up again. Passenger travel on

the Santa Fe Railway hit its peak in the 1920s.10 But now other railroad companies were

not the only challenge to the Santa Fe. The automobile, specifically the Ford Model T,

brought stiff competition to passenger train service. The number of customers traveling

long distances by car instead of train pushed the ATSF to offer more services than ever

before. The railroad removed their older cars and limited the number of passenger trains

so they could add larger dining cars and lounge cars. To increase interest in the West, the

ATSF promoted travel to New Mexico and Arizona through calendars, brochures and

magazine advertisements. The ATSF and Harvey began “Indian Detours” and train-bus

service to allow passengers time to tour the area. For a time this strategy worked

8 Ibid, 88. 9 Gertrude K. Burton, to Readers Digest, 30 October 1940, copy, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 10 Smith, 13.


55

allowing the Santa Fe and Harvey to make a profit despite their competition.11 The 1920s

were a prosperous period for the travel industry, but when the stock market crashed in

October, 1929 the economy caused travel to slow down considerably.12

As the Depression settled over the nation luxuries like vacations were no longer

feasible as people were struggling to maintain food and shelter for their families. With

passenger train service in decline Harvey Houses had to pull out of some locations. The

Harvey Company, not wanting to let people go, would move employees when possible,

but those transfers came at a price, employees often took jobs in undesirable locations

and had to leave their families behind.13 For the Harvey Girls a reduction in pay was not

uncommon. Some women lost as much as twenty dollars a month in wages during the

Depression. Fortunately, with room and board still included the Harvey Girls were

luckier than others and they were still employed.14 Harvey‟s good will during the

Depression did not end with his employees. When people showed up hungry at the back

of the restaurant with no money to pay for dinner they were still fed.15

Before the country could fully recover from the Depression the United States

found itself embattled in another World War. Like the beginning of World War I the

need for more Harvey Girls was realized and women again came out of retirement to

help. Troop trains began carrying soldiers, sailors, and airmen across the country. In

1943 alone a record setting thirty million meals were served at the Harvey Houses with

eight million of those going to servicemen. To explain the changes that the war brought

11 Bryant, 332-333. 12 Smith, 20. 13 Poling-Kempes, 188. 14 Ibid., 113. 15 Morris, 72.


56

to the Fred Harvey Houses the company took out advertisements in magazines like Life,

Newsweek, Fortune, U.S. News, and Cosmopolitan. The advertisement features a fabled

Private Pringle to represent the thousands of soldiers eating in the Harvey Houses at that

time. Throughout the campaign the Harvey Company tried to explain how rationing and

shortages may have lowered the famous Harvey Houses standards but it was for a good

cause.16 The ads made sure everyone knew the 7,000 Fred Harvey employees were

trying to fulfill their assignment to bring the boys home. “When that job is done, all of us

again can devote full time to seeing that you always enjoy the hospitality famous through

70 years of Harvey family management.”17

With the loss of a more lucrative clientele came the decline of Harvey‟s original

standards. Indeed, war-time shortages in labor transformed the hiring process and the

Harvey Girl look. To be sure, the post-World War II Harvey Girl would have been

turned away from the original employment agency in Chicago. The new Harvey Girl was

over-thirty, married, and sometimes even divorced. Women working in restaurants were

no longer as committed to their job because they were not as dependent upon the

company for housing or wage work. By the 1950s, the positions were being filled by

teenagers, college students, and married mothers, not young girls looking for marriage or

adventure in the West.18 Once hired, the Harvey girl was no longer classically-trained in

Victorian etiquette. The memorable uniform was altered as well; white hosiery was not

always available to the girls, laundry service declined, and the long-sleeved blouses were

16 Smith, 23. 17 Advertisements, box 6, folders 124-126, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 18 Dorothy Sue Cobble, Dishing It Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), 195.


57

replaced with less modest short sleeves. All of which suggested a much more casual

attire and work culture than Harvey could have ever imagined.19

Not willing to give up the Harvey Company‟s original understanding of fine

dining, the company looked to reestablish its lost standards and reputation. The company

turned to its managers to help find a solution and a way to retrain its workforce that might

capture its former glory. And it was these concerns that in January 1948 inspired the St.

Louis Harvey House to set out to see who in the restaurant would be considered not just

the best employee, but the ideal “Harvey Girl.” To do this the management created a

highly-publicized competition to determine which girl reflected the characteristics

reminiscent of the Harvey Company 1870s standards. Not only would the contest reward

some of the girls working for the company, but they could also use the contest to retrain

some of the skills and etiquette that had been lost.20

Overall, five characteristics that came to define the perfect “THE HARVEY

GIRL” were not only a reflection of Victorian America but also post-WWII gender

conventions that stressed propriety and deference.21 All of which fit the managerial goals

of a cooperative work force. For example, one‟s appearance had to be appropriate for

white, middle-class customers that had long made up the Harvey House clientele. Thus

first of all, a Harvey Girl would always be neat in dress with her grooming kept up. This

included carefully-arranged hair, light makeup, clean sparkling teeth, daily bath and

deodorant, manicured nails, clean hands, and of course a pleasant smile. Second, the

19 Poling-Kempes, 193-194. 20 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 21 Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic Books, 1988), 82.


58

uniform would have the black bow tie, name badge, slip that is not showing, clean run-

free stockings and clean, well-polished shoes. Third, Harvey Girls were always to be

efficient. A Harvey Girl would pay attention to the customer‟s wants and needs. Fourth,

a Harvey Girl would greet guest and workers in a friendly manner. Lastly, a Harvey Girl

is courteous at all times. Along with this description a visual picture was added to help

the girls see what the company wanted.22

Figure 5. Portrait of a Harvey Girl.23

The St. Louis Harvey House decided to let the employees decide on who made

the best “Harvey Girl.” After a ballot was filled out it was placed in a locked box so no

one would know who the others voted for before the final count. Prizes would be

awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. By encouraging all employees to participate, the 22 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 23 Ibid.


59

contest became a clever managerial tool designed to remind all employees of what was to

be expected.24

When B.S. Harvey saw the notice of the contest he decided St. Louis had a great

idea and attempted to greatly expand the contest. Harvey then sent a letter to others in

the corporate office in hopes that other Harvey Houses would do the same thing. As an

added idea Harvey thought the contest could not simply award local Harvey Girls but

create a nation-wide competition for the best “Harvey Girl of the Year.” Harvey ended

the letter by asking for suggestions.25 As a result, “Portrait of a Harvey Girl,” was

created in March of 1948. This portrait contained the following description of the

Harvey Girl. First, the Harvey Girl is always courteous. Greeting her customers warmly,

giving prompt and courteous service is a daily routine for the Harvey Girl. She is

generous with smiles and “Thank You‟s.”26 All of which seemed to suggest that it was

the Harvey Girl rather than the food that really mattered and that she would be the focus

of management.

Coming out of the Second World War the Harvey Girl was to now maintain a

wholesome image that made her not only an ideal employee but fit the demands of

domesticity. In other words, it was not simply good service but marriage that was to be a

Harvey Girl‟s aspiration. Indeed, the Harvey Company suggested that if Harvey Girls

would adhere to the policies set forth by management then they would still have the

rewards of their predecessors and would easily find a spouse. For women, economic

24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid.


60

stability and societal approval was a result of marriage not a job.27 And thus the post-war

Harvey Girls should be more like their turn-of-the-century counterpart and thus the kind

you marry. As if they were preparing for a date rather than work, once again the girls

were to take special care of their appearance.28 Their hair had to be worn neatly

especially since they had to use a hair net at all times. They had to wear appropriate

shoes that were well polished. Makeup should be worn but quite conservatively. Plus,

she could not perspire and effective deodorant needed to be applied daily.29 Just like the

flight attendant, who soon would serve a traveling business class, the Harvey Girl was

never to appear as though she were really at work.30

In addition, a Harvey Girl had to behave in a professional manner while on the

job. Gum chewing was not allowed. You would not find her huddled in a group

gossiping or talking loudly or holding long conversations with customers. While on the

job a Harvey girl could not slouch on the counters, tables, or chairs. Plus, she should

never be away from her station without permission. Efficiency was to be one of her most

outstanding characteristics. Harvey Girls should know short cuts to efficient service and

were constantly learning new ones. She sees what needs to be done and does it. She was

to be familiar with her menu or merchandise. A Harvey girl should be dependable. She

respected her job enough to notify her department when she was to be absent.

Cooperation between the Harvey Girl and other Harvey employees make her a valuable

27Kathleen M. Barry, Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants ( Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), 58. 28 Ibid, 49. 29 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 30 Barry, 6.


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employee. She was to put forth her best effort to make the business run smoothly. A

Harvey Girl was a helpful person that answers questions willingly, gives timely

suggestions, was kind to bewildered and handicapped customers, and considerate to

women and children. She had the customer‟s best interest at heart and lets them know it.

Finally, she was to be honest. Honest not only with the merchandise, but honest with her

time and with her fellow workers and customers.31 Added to this definition was the idea

that a Harvey Girl was loyal to her employer and proud of the job she holds. For after all,

she was a Harvey Girl.

Figure 6. The second portrait of a Harvey Girl.32

31 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 32 Ibid.


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Two months after St. Louis held its competition Chicago announced in its

newsletter that it would also hold a Harvey Girl Contest. Chicago took it one step further

and held a contest for the Chicago Union Station (CUS) and the Dearborn Station. At the

end of the contest a winner would be announced for the CUS Harvey Girl of 1948,

Dearborn Harvey Girl of 1948, and the CUS Harvey Salesgirl of 1948. Chicago, like St.

Louis hoped that all employees would cast their ballots. Each employee was to vote for

the three women they felt best fit the qualifications that were set out. Ballots were to be

turned in by the end of the month to the Department Head. The ballots were to be

counted by employees that had nothing to do with the contest. The top five girls would

be chosen and then a group of representatives from the department heads would judge the

finalist based on the word portrait of a Harvey Girl. These votes would then be tallied

and the winner announced.33

In all, the contest was quite popular. Sixty-five percent of the employees voted

making the contest central to the work culture. To top it off, B.S. Harvey Sr. showed up

at the luncheon honoring each of the women with a corsage and a personal note. After

the success in St. Louis and Chicago the company began thinking about a similar

competition involving all of the restaurants. By looking at the top winners in each

restaurant, the hope was to find The Harvey Girl of the year.34

To be sure, many of the girls that were in the contest appreciated the attention

they received. Consider this letter from the Kansas City winner Mollie Quinn: “…I also

wish to express my thanks for the beautiful bracelet, the Gift-Bond, the fine luncheon and

33 Ibid. 34 Ibid.


63

for the Honor of being chosen first place in the contest. This has left a deep sense of

appreciation in me and is an honor of which I sincerely hope I deserve.”35 Daggett

Harvey responded to Quinn‟s letter letting her know, “You can be sure that your sense of

appreciation is reciprocated and that we feel it is a privilege for us to be represented by

such persons as you and the other winners.”36

Not everyone was happy, however. After the contest customers sent flowers to

the lunch room waitresses that won the contest. But this sometimes created jealously and

reinforced a sense of hierarchy in the ranks of restaurant employees. For example, some

of the girls had their feelings hurt. Plus, the cashiers felt they were unduly over looked in

the contest. The cashiers worked with the customers as well and they felt they should

have also been allowed to enter the competition and potentially rewarded. Indeed some

managers later objected to company-wide competition because they were afraid that the

contest might cause hard feelings that would create an environment in which the winner

would eventually quit undermining the whole point of the contest.37

After the contest in Kansas City a memo was sent out analyzing the positive and

negative aspects of the contest. On the positive side, the employees were interested

which meant they sought out the qualifications that defined a good employee. With the

discussions that were taking place at the managerial level, it seemed clear that employees

were not just embracing the contest but an education on Harvey policies. The employees

35 Mollie Quinn, to Daggett Harvey, 13 May 1948, transcript in the hand of Mollie Quinn, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 36 Daggett Harvey, to Mollie Quinn, 13 May 1948, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. 37Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.


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got to know each other better and thus cooperation also should help the success of the

company. Most importantly, the customers became interested in a restaurant that was not

just a relic of the past, but so nicely fit post-War notions of domesticity.38

However, the company-wide contest to select the “Harvey Girl of 1948” was

postponed. First it seemed more time was needed to include the entire company. The

Harvey Corporation, under advisement of its restaurant managers also decided to wait

until 1949 because the education and training during the war became quite lax. To get

the results they wanted a re-education along with intensive training needed to take place

at all levels. So, before the contest, lectures were to be given on how to improve the

artistry of service and included everything from knowing your set-up and menu to

customer approach and interaction.39

It was not just the contest that created attention. Thanks to a 1940s book and

subsequent film entitled The Harvey Girls; the popular culture greatly assisted B.S.

Harvey just as he was looking to resurrect his business along with quasi-Victorian images

of the past, something that had been a hallmark of the restaurant‟s reputation. The story

line not only reminded employees why they should be grateful for their jobs, but it

reminded customers of what they might be missing:

38Tyler May, xiii. 39 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.


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“Workin’ for Fred Harvey is the dandiest job there is. The best of food, the cleanest of

livin’ accommodations, and you’re looked after like you was kids in a convent. Maybe a

bit too much of that. I ain’t sayin’ but what the work ain’t hard , but you’ll get your tips

and do good for yourselves. You’ll be treated like ladies and expected to act as such.

Remember, the customer is always right, but you don’t have to take any freshness off’n

nobody. There’s one other Harvey rule: The trains must be fed – morning, noon, or the

middle of the night. That’s iron clad. Here’s some advice. Keep out of trouble.”40

The movie not only gave the Harvey Company publicity it projected an idealistic

image of the original Harvey Girl who was loyal and could handle any situation. The

Harvey Girl from the 1870s was strong and put the company first working hard to make

sure all customers were satisfied. The movie, The Harvey Girls, depicted the same type

of girl. A good example comes in a scene with Harvey Girl Susan Bradley (Judy

Garland) and Ned Trent (John Hodiak). Trent, the owner of the Alhambra, a saloon,

went to the Harvey House for dinner. Needless, to say Trent was not happy about the

Harvey House moving into town. Harvey Houses were known to open churches in town

and the men tended to marry the Harvey Girls, therefore, Trent feared he would lose a

considerable amount of business if the Harvey House succeeded in Sandrock. When

Trent ordered a steak from Bradley, she went to the kitchen and found out all the meat

was missing along with the manager. Knowing exactly what was going on Bradley, the

loyal company girl, left the restaurant taking two guns off the coat rack on her way out as

she headed towards the Alhambra. After getting everyone‟s attention in the saloon,

Bradley declared, “I‟m from the Harvey House. Now we‟ve got a lot of hungry people

over there, waiting to be served. And, I don‟t want to hurt anybody, honestly, I don‟t.

40 Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Harvey Girl (New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1942), 31.


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We are famous for our steaks and I‟m not going to let anybody stop me. Tell me where

the meat is or I‟ll shoot.” After having shot a bottle out of the bartender‟s hand he

quickly pointed her to the stolen goods. But the manager of the Harvey House also

needed to be rescued for he was tied up in another room. After untying the manager, they

were able to take the meat back to the restaurant and saved the day and provide a good

Harvey dinner for all their hungry customers. Just as telling as her loyalty was Bradley‟s

etiquette. Always the polite Harvey Girl, Bradley did not forget as she left the saloon to

say, “I just want to thank you all.”41

Of course, not all Harvey Girls identified with the images on the big screen or

postwar gender roles.42 Regardless of their reaction, however, B.S. Harvey wanted all of

his employees to see the film. In fact, he had the Harvey House mangers contact the

local movie theaters to set up an agreement to allow each Fred Harvey employee to

submit a Harvey House coupon to the theater as an admission ticket. Once the coupons

have been accepted the Fred Harvey Company would reimburse the theaters. This was

exactly the kind of free publicity the company was looking for and Harvey was not about

to turn it down.43

Regardless of the attention being paid to the Harvey House in popular culture it

was not enough to create the kind of increases in patronage needed to deal with

competition. In the post WWII era, car and air travel were a greater threat that could not

be ignored. President Dwight D. Eisenhower worked for better highways to cross the

41 George Sidney, The Harvey Girls, (California: Warner Brothers, 1945), motion picture. 42 Poling-Kempes, 103. 43 Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff


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nation. Eisenhower‟s major push for increased roads stemmed from a fear of atomic

attack on the nation. His theory was that with better highways evacuation would be

quicker.44 Regardless of the reason for highway improvements, once better highways

existed automobile travel increased.

Simultaneously, advances in aviation led to airlines offering passenger service.

Although they were not an immediate threat to the railroads, their presence altered

railroad passenger travel. At first it seemed that trains may be able to compete. Air

travel was more expensive and dangerous, but more important to the traveler they were

unreliable. Weather conditions cancelled numerous flights as did mechanical failures. If

that was not enough airsickness became common since planes flew through the weather

instead of above it.45 The airlines‟ shortfalls allowed the railroad companies to join into

an agreement with the airline companies to offer air-train service. When planes were

grounded due either to mechanical issues, the weather, or nightfall, passengers boarded

trains to continue their travels. This combination of services ultimately shed twenty

hours of travel time on a transcontinental excursion.46

However, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway along with other railways

wrongly believed passenger travel would increase after World War II. Preparing for an

influx of passengers and train schedules, ATSF poured millions of dollars into new

equipment, only the increase they expected never happened. Automobile ownership had

increased and highways improved, not to mention the unpredictable popularity in

44 Tyler May, 151. 45 Barry, 14-15. 46 Bryant, 334-335.


68

aviation.47 A decline in railroad passengers led to decreased patronage at the Harvey

Houses. Eventually the loss of business caused the Harvey Houses to systematically shut

down.48

The post-World War Two era saw a shift not only in transportation patterns, but

in the restaurant industry as a whole. The working and middle class began eating out

more than ever, but they were choosing low-priced fast food over restaurants like the

Harvey House. To keep up with the population consumer demands, restaurants were

being opened by the thousands all over the United States.49 Over the course of a century

the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe went from a short-haul prairie line to one of the most

famous passenger friendly companies in the nation. Even though the ATSF railroad had

been known to provide deluxe equipment, fast schedules, delicious food, and courteous

service it ended its passenger train service on May 2, 1971 after 103 years of reliability.50

In post war America, the Harvey Girl on and off the screen fit a domestic cold war

ideology that captured what Fred Harvey himself originally wanted to see in his wait staff

- a girl who embraced middle-class propriety, knew her place and ultimately was the kind

you married. Unfortunately, the Harvey Girl contest was in many ways an unsuccessful

attempt to resurrect a business that seemed increasingly a part of a bygone era.

47 Ibid, 349. 48 James A. Cox. “How Good Food and Harvey „skirts‟ won the West,” Smithsonian, September 1987, 139. 49 Cobble, 193. 50 Bryant, 326-327.


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CHAPTER V

END OF THE LINE

We may live without poetry, music and art;

We may live without conscience and live without heart;

We may live without friends; we may live without books;

But civilized man cannot live without cooks.

He may live without books; what is knowledge but grieving?

He may live without hope; what is hope but deceiving?

He may live without love; what is passion but pining?

But where is the man who can live without dining”1

These words written by Owen Meredith (the Earl of Lytton), who authored Lucile

understood what Fred Harvey also believed; good food was not simply to be enjoyed it

was a symbol of one‟s culture. Food is about more than tastes, it is often central to social

events that provide pleasure and allow individuals to connect with the people around

them.2 As the Harvey Houses pulled out of towns across the West they left vacant

buildings and economic downfall. As years passed and travel by automobile and

airplanes became more popular the areas that housed the railroads were increasingly

neglected. Yet, without the railroad or Harvey Houses many of these towns would never

even have been built in the first place. As many towns attempt to regain their economic

clout and identity Harvey Girls played a central role yet again. Harvey Girls are well

remembered not only by the passengers along the Santa Fe, but by the relatives, former

Harvey employees, railroaders and members of the local communities. Harvey Girls

1 Lenore Dils, Horny Toad Man (El Paso: Boots and Saddle Press, 1966), 71. 2 Donna R. Gabaccia, We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), 231.


70

connected with the people and so did the restaurants and train stations in which they

worked. As the Houses fell into disrepair communities longed for the nostalgia

associated with the famous Harvey Girls and this inspired public history projects and the

historic preservation of the famous Harvey Houses. This final chapter looks at one

particular town in West Texas, Slaton, as an example of the ways in which the memories

of the Harvey Girls have helped save the structure that once housed the famous restaurant

along with the memory of the man for whom the restaurant was named.3

Slaton is the most recent of Harvey Houses to be renovated and reopened, but it is

not the only restaurant to be saved by its local community. Kansas has saved four of the

Harvey House buildings, but only one remains a restaurant. Kansas City Union Station

has reopened a Harvey House Diner in their building, but Dodge City, Newton, and

Chanute renovated their Harvey House buildings into a theater, law office, and Safari

Museum. California has three Harvey Houses remaining. San Bernardino converted

their Harvey House into county office space while the Barstow Harvey House currently

holds the Route 66 Museum. In Needles, California‟s El Garces Harvey House is

currently under renovations that began in 2007. Arizona has maintained three of their

hotel resorts originally opened by Fred Harvey. El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, La

Posada in Winslow, and Fray Marcos in Williams offer luxurious rooms in the

elaborately designed hotels that were opened along the Santa Fe line. Five Harvey

Houses have survived in New Mexico. The Santa Fe Railroad continues to own the

Harvey House in Clovis, New Mexico, but it is boarded up with overgrown ivy covering

3 Lesley Poling-Kempes, The Harvey Girls Women Who Opened The West (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1991), 209.


71

it. All that survives in Gallup is a small section of the Harvey House that is being used as

an Indian Cultural Center. Belen uses their building as a museum housing Santa Fe

Railroad and Fred Harvey memorabilia. La Fonda in Santa Fe still operates as a hotel

while the Castaneda in Las Vegas, New Mexico is currently for sale.4 Oklahoma

maintains three Harvey Houses today. The Guthrie and Hugo Harvey Houses function as

restaurants. Meanwhile Waynoka‟s Harvey House is owned by the Waynoka Historical

Society who has spent 1.5 million dollars to renovate the Harvey House into an

operational restaurant and museum.5

Texas Harvey Houses continue to serve three towns, Brownwood, Galveston, and

Slaton. Brownwood, Texas renovated their depot and Harvey House in the late 1990s.

The Harvey House section houses the Chamber of Commerce while the depot serves as a

meeting and events center. Galveston‟s Harvey House went underwater as Hurricane Ike

made landfall in September 2008 causing them to shut down their Railroad Museum for

now. Slaton opened their Harvey House as a Bed and Breakfast in 2007 and with its

celebration came memories of the town‟s beginnings.6

Before a Harvey House was ever established in Slaton, Texas, railroads first

began stretching across the country, building division points along the way that founded

small towns and communities. By 1904 the Santa Fe Railroad decided to construct tracks

into Texas. Its lines were to run north and south and east and west. Division points were

4 Michael McMillan, comment on “The Slaton Harvey House,” Fred Harvey Discussion Group, comment

posted on 28 October 2008, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fred_harvey/message/826. 5 Sandie Olson, comment on “The Slaton Harvey House,” Fred Harvey Discussion Group, comment

posted on 28 October 2008, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fred_harvey/message/825. 6 Michael McMillan, comment on “The Slaton Harvey House,” Fred Harvey Discussion Group, comment posted on 28 October 2008, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fred_harvey/message/826.


72

to be roughly a hundred miles apart which was considered one freight run. The Santa Fe

Railroad was then responsible in establishing the towns at the division points. One of

these division points was just outside of Lubbock.7

Slaton was built as a “company” town with much controversy. As the Santa Fe

Railroad built across West Texas a division point was needed along the Llano Estacado.

People were excited about the railroad opening in Texas because the railroads would

allow the South Plains access to the Gulf Coast and to the West. Lubbock was an

established town that wanted the division point to stop there. The agreements were made

and the division point was slated for Lubbock. The people in Lubbock preferred this

because they did not want a new town so close that it would slow the development of

Lubbock or bring unwanted competition to the area. As Santa Fe officials continued to

confer they decided the division point needed to be fifteen miles east of Lubbock. The

new division point was decided on because of railroad operating needs. Slaton would be

110 miles from Clovis, New Mexico and 103 miles from Sweetwater, Texas, giving

Slaton the advantage over Lubbock. In 1911, the Santa Fe Railroad began selling plots in

Slaton and building the railroad station that included a $75,000 Harvey House.8

7 Slaton Story (Slaton, Texas: Slaton Museum Association, [1979]), 1. 8 Ralph W. Ater, “Early History Of The Santa Fe In Slaton Area,” The Slaton Slatonite, 20 August 1959, p. 1.


73

Figure 7. Photograph of the railroad construction, 1912. Courtesy of Slaton Museum.

Success for the railroads in the West would be actualized only if people settled in

towns along the way. Therefore, the railroad had to look out for the settlers. The Santa

Fe owned land along the tracks and they sold the plots to populate the west. To bring

people to the area, Santa Fe circulated advertisements with promises of ample water

delivered via the railroad. One aspect of looking after the settlers was making sure the

people could obtain food and water in the newly settled areas.9 The Santa Fe knew food

was important to the people and they used Fred Harvey‟s restaurants as a selling point in

their advertisements. The restaurant‟s importance in Slaton was also seen in the fact that

the Harvey House was the second building to be constructed in Slaton by the Santa Fe

Railroad. When the ATSF began advertising the sale of Slaton land it listed five reasons

for one to move to the area: location, advantages and improvements, 3,000 feet of

business streets, a fine agricultural country, and what the company offers. Under 9 “Railroad Moved Settlers West in Boxcar-Coaches,” The Slaton Slatonite, 20 August 1959, p. 5.


74

advantages and improvements the Fred Harvey Eating House was cited. The fact that the

restaurant was already open was pointed out to the reader as well.10

Figure 8. Advertisement selling lots in Slaton.11

The Slaton Harvey House was a two story structure. The first floor could

accommodate forty eight guests at a time around a horseshoe shaped counter. The first

floor also contained a kitchen, bakery, newsstand, and gift shop. Fred Harvey‟s

newsstands sold a large number of books, magazines, and newspapers. The newsstands

were so successful that publishers began to judge their print orders off of the Harvey

newsstand sales.12 The gift shop was to sell fine gifts, candies, Indian jewelry, and

10 The Slaton Slatonite, (Slaton, Texas), 23 January 1914. 11 Ibid. 12

James David Henderson, “Meals By Fred Harvey” A Phenomenon of The American West (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1967), 33.


75

weavings. The second floor was the living quarters for the single employees along with

the manager with his family.

Figure 9. Newstand in the Slaton Harvey House. Courtesy of Slaton Museum.

Slaton citizens, like the rest of the American West, moved on with their lives and

the Harvey House became just an old structure down by the railroad tracks that was more

or less forgotten. The fate of most Harvey Houses was abandonment or demolition when

passenger travel declined after World War II.13 Prior to the 20th century eating outside of

the home was rare. But the 1920s saw a tremendous shift when single girls, working

outside of the home, made cafeterias, lunch counters, and sandwich shops popular. After

World War II larger numbers of married women began working outside of the home,

causing a paradigm shift in food preparation to take place. To relieve the burden of

cooking, fast-food and chain restaurants became a staple in working-class and middle 13 Ted J. Simon, “Trainload of Memories Slaton group lays tracks to restore Harvey House,” Lubbock

Avalanche Journal, 19 December 1991, Neighbors, p. 2.


76

income families.14 After the closing of the Slaton Harvey House in the 1940s Santa Fe

renovated the building turning it into the passenger depot. The building remained in use

as office space until the 1970s when the Slaton division point began to consolidate their

offices.

By 1957 there were two Harvey Houses still in operation, one in Newton, Kansas

and the other in Gallup, New Mexico. In May, the Newton, Kansas Harvey House

announced it would be ringing the gong for the last time, and others feared the New

Mexico House would be doing the same soon. The Harvey Houses were from a bygone

era that was falling victim to the modern dining train car and the speed of trains. As the

sounds of the gongs were fading the nostalgia of the past was replacing the restaurants.15

The post-war era saw men and women postponing marriage, delaying childbirth,

and having smaller families. These qualities led family dinners at home to decrease and a

rise in restaurants predominately in the fast-food industry. Chain and franchised

restaurants rose nationalizing and homogenizing American food choices. Literally,

restaurant customers across the nation were being served similar meals. Where the

Harvey Houses were known for their fine fresh foods the restaurant chains that followed

would not keep up with the Harvey standards. Fresh meats, fruits and vegetables were

being replaced in restaurants with prepared frozen foods. Chefs were no longer needed

as all one had to do to “cook” a meal was defrost, reheat, deep fry, and assemble. Unlike

14 Harvey Levenstein, Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 208. 15 Wichita Evening Eagle, (Wichita, Kansas), 1 May 1957.


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Fred Harvey who insisted on the best regardless of price, the new restaurants weighed

convenience over nutrition and taste.16

As fast food and chain restaurants increased in numbers the remaining Harvey

House buildings were continuing to decline. In 1991, a wrecking crew was called out to

tear down an old building in Slaton, Texas that was owned by the Santa Fe Railroad. A

local resident happened to come upon the scene and asked what was going on. By this

time, the demolition crew had ripped off the building‟s loading dock.17 The resident then

went to the president of the local museum association, Almarine Childers, to report the

destruction of the old Harvey House. Childers then contacted the mayor of Slaton, Don

Kendrick, and the city administrator, Jim Estes, to have the demolition stopped. The men

called the Santa Fe railroad asking for the demolition to be stopped at least for a while so

the situation could be looked into. Eventually work was done to have the building and

land deeded to the city so the building could be restored.18

Mayor Don Kendrick helped save the Harvey House because, “We felt that since

Slaton was such as railroad town that this is a significant part of our community and our

heritage. There was a feeling that we needed to save this building.”19 Once the Harvey

House was safe from demolition the Slaton Railroad Heritage Association (SRHA) was

formed in 1991. The Slaton Railroad Heritage Association is a non-profit organization

working to preserve and develop the Slaton Harvey House. After the organization of the

SRHA plans were made to turn the former restaurant into a living history museum. The

16 Levenstein, 208-209. 17

Elizabeth Langston, “Bringing back part of history: Slaton to revive Harvey House site,” Lubbock

Avalanche Journal, 31August 1996, Metro, p. 5. 18Simon, 2. 19 Langston, 5.


78

hope was that if the association‟s plans were successful then the Harvey House could

once again be a center of activity in the community as well as a reminder of the past and

where the city began.20 A $1 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation

to the Slaton Harvey House assisted in the renovation.21

Reasons given to save the Harvey Houses in a community are as varied as the

number of people working on the project. Sue Davis, the Slaton Railroad Heritage

Association Vice President looks at saving the Harvey House as a way to honor her father

who was an engineer for Santa Fe Railway.22 Davis recalls going down to the tracks to

see if anyone famous got off the train or to travel by train. “I can remember taking a trip

to California as a child. It was very exciting that we could come down here, get on a

train and go all the way to the West Coast, all the way to San Francisco.”23

During the years of the Slaton Harvey House restoration numerous articles were

written on its progress to remind the community of the project as well as the ongoing

fundraising. Reporters frequently called Rose Farschon, a Slaton Harvey Girl from the

1940s, when they needed an interview for their articles. Always trying to be the

accommodating Harvey Girl, Rose would agree to the interview and once even posed in a

replica of the Harvey uniform. When I asked about the uniform she wore for the

newspaper I could tell by the look on her face she did not approve of the picture. “The

only authentic thing is me,” Rose insisted. “I don‟t know who passed it off to Tony

Privett as a Fred Harvey. Well, it isn‟t, it had pleats in the back and it was open in the

20 Ray Westbrook, “Slaton heritage group makes plans to restore Harvey House.” Lubbock Avalanche

Journal, 29 January 1995, Sec C, p.8. 21 Langston, 5. 22 Ibid. 23 Bill Hanna, “Storied Stopover,” Star-Telegram, 4 May 2003, State, p. 1.


79

back. You couldn‟t have worn just a blouse with it.” As Farschon continued to explain,

“they were so determined to have a picture.” The picture has been published at least

twice and Farschon let the second reporter know, “Now, this is not a Fred Harvey

costume. This is something we put together and it sorta resembles it.”24

After years of work and financial planning Slaton‟s dreams were realized in the

fall of 2007 when the Slaton Harvey House opened as a Bed and Breakfast that could also

serve as an events center. Farschon had said, “It was a pretty special place. I hope they

get it right.”25 After a nights stay at the renovated Harvey House, Michael McMillan has

this to write on his Fred Harvey chat room. “They have a beautifully restored Lunch

Room with nice paneling and light fixtures, and News Stand. There is a new, added

elevator going upstairs, or you can take the original employee stairs with metal threads.

Next to the stairs and elevator is the B&B office, which is staffed when guests are

present. There is also the kitchen are, and an unfinished rear storage area where supplies

were once unloaded from railcars at a siding that came up to a loading door. That area

will be fixed up eventually. There are modern restrooms downstairs for events held in

the Lunch Room are and people there for a tour.”26 It seems they did get it right.

24 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording. 25 Hanna, 1. 26 Michael McMillan, comment on “The Slaton Harvey House,” Fred Harvey Discussion Group, comment posted on January 22, 2008, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fred_harvey/message/511.


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Figure 10. Slaton Harvey House Main Room, 2008. Courtesy of Slaton Railroad Heritage Association.

Figure 11. Slaton Harvey House Bed and Breakfast, 2008. Courtesy of Slaton Railroad Heritage Association.

In April 2008, the Slaton Harvey House unveiled its Texas Historic Landmark

Marker. Tony Privett, a member of the Slaton Railroad Heritage Association, had this to

say at the dedication, “The building has so much history for the community. Literally it

is the most significant historical building in the community now. The great thing is it's

serving its original function now.”27 Another charter member of the SRHA, Jim Davis

had the following to say on the Harvey House dedication, "How do you describe

27

Joshua Hull, “Historic Harvey House gets back on track in Slaton,” Lubbock Avalanche Journal, 13 April 2008, Local News, p. 1.


81

something you dream about and dream about and dream about when it finally happens."28

The Slaton Harvey House is being promoted as a place to have reunions, weddings,

meetings, parties, civic and social events. To assist those hosting events at the Harvey

House there is in-house event planning, floral, and catering. So far, community wide

Christmas events and Valentine dinners have been held in the former lunch room.29

Hoping that part of the Bed and Breakfast will eventually hold a museum full of

Fred Harvey memorabilia; the Slaton Harvey House takes donations from any collectors

or private owners. During my interview with Farschon she shared the items she had

saved as mementos of her time with the Harvey Company. At the time of the interview,

she had plans to give all of it to the Slaton Harvey House. When she showed me an old

menu, I asked if the menu came from her time at the Slaton Fred Harvey House. She

answered, “Well, a no. It was given to me. I think someone snitched it. I also have a

spoon and I didn‟t snitch either one, but I think somebody did. I do have them.”30

Suggesting she still carried the Fred Harvey standards and would never betray her loyalty

even after all these years.

Farschon had several memories from her time at the Harvey House. By working

the late shift Farschon had several experiences that other Harvey Girls would never have.

Like the time a local resident became drunk on corn whiskey then visited the Harvey

House. “He had this bottle of whiskey in his back pocket and he was very congenial. If

you wanted a drink you could have a drink with him.” Of course, being the Harvey Girl

28 Ibid. 29 Harvey House of Slaton, Texas, “The Historic Harvey House is now a Bed and Breakfast, Event Center and Historic Santa Fe Landmark,” http://www.harveyhouseofslatontx.com. 30 Rose Farschon, interview by author, 10 March 2003, Slaton, Texas, tape recording.


82

she did not partake. Another night another drunk customer placed an order for his

favorite meal liver and bacon. As the cook was preparing the food, the customer told

Rose, “I have to be gone for a minute. I have to go to town and I‟ll be right back.” He

proceeded to leave but what happened next still makes Farschon chuckle, “He got in the

car. He just raced the motor like mad. Then he came back in. Like I said the fun part

was the night.”31

During my interview with Rose Farschon I was told she hoped to live long

enough to see the Harvey House finished. While she did see the Harvey House restored

to its entire splendor she passed away less than a week before the dedication.32 Rose and

many other Harvey Girls have passed on, but their legacy is remembered.

Figure 12. Renovated Slaton Harvey House. Courtesy of Slaton Railroad Heritage Association.

31 Ibid. 32 Hull, p.1.


83

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Armitage, Susan and Elizabeth Jameson, ed. The Women’s West. Norman, Oklahoma: Oklahoma University Press, 1984.

Barry, Kathleen M. Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007.

Bryant, Keith L. History of the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe Railway. New York: Macmillan, 1974. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1974.

Cobble, Dorothy Sue. Dishing It Out: Waitress and Their Unions in the Twentieth

Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.

Dils, Lenore. Horny Toad Man. El Paso, Texas: Boots and Saddle Press, 1966.

Foster, George H. and Peter C. Weiglin. The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of

Dining Along The Santa Fe Railroad. Atlanta: Longstreet Press, 1992.

Gabaccia, Donna R. We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Henderson, James David. Meals by Fred Harvey: A Phenomenon of The American West. Fort Worth, Texas: Texas Christian University Press, 1969.

Hine, Robert V. and John Mack Faragher. Frontiers: A Short History of the American

West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Hopkins Adams, Samuel. The Harvey Girls. New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1942.

Jameson, Elizabeth and Susan Armitage, ed. Writing the Range Race, Class, and Culture

in the Women’s West. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.

Kessler-Harris, Alice. Out To Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United

States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Klein, Naomi. No Logo. New York: Picador, 2000.

Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution At The Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Morris, Juddi. The Harvey Girls: The Women Who Civilized the West. New York: Walker and Company, 1994.


84

Owings, Alison. Hey, Waitress! The USA From the Other Side Of The Tray. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002.

Peiss, Kathy. Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986.

Poling-Kempes, Lesley. The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened The West. New York: Paragon Press, 1989.

Slaton’s Story. Slaton, Texas: Slaton Museum Association, 1979.

Stansell, Christine. City of Women: Sex and Class in New York 1789-1860. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1982.

Tyler May, Elaine. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York: Basic Books, 1988.

Articles

Barton, R.J. “Bart.” “Dining Railway Style.” Journal of the West ( January 1992): 31-35.

Beebe, Lucius. “Purveyor To The West.” American Heritage, February 1967, 28-32.

Cox, James A. “How Good Food and Harvey “Skirts” Won The West.” Smithsonian, September 1987, 130-139.

“Harvey Food Helped Build The West.” The Morrell Magazine, May 1946, 3-6.

Kelly, Carla. “No More Beans: The Restaurants That Won The West.” American

History Illustrated, October 1981, 42-47.

Smart, Patrice. “Those Harvey Girls.” Railroad Magazine, December 1964, 13-16.

Smith, Robert L. “Fred Harvey.” Motor Coach Age, August-September 1983, 4-34. “Those were the Days.” Fred Harvey Yesterday and Today, August-September 1976, 4

Walston Latimer, Rosa. “The Harvey Girls.” Texas Highways, February 1992, 18-25. White, Laura. “Harvey Girl.” Railroad Magazine, February 1944, 78-100. White, Marion. “The Harvey Girls.” The Woman, September 1945, 1-4.

Zavertnik, Kay. “What a Waitress Should Be from a Waitress Viewpoint.” Fred Harvey

Yesterday and Today, August-September 1976, 2.


85

Newspapers

Ater, Ralph W. “Early History of the Santa Fe In Slaton Area.” The Slaton Slatonite, August 20, 1959.

Glass, Ray. “A Slice of Slaton History: Restoration brings Harvey House back to life.”

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, March 7, 2003.

Hanna, Bill. “Storied Stopover.” Star-Telegram, May 4, 2003.

Hull, Joshua. “Historic Harvey House gets back on track in Slaton.” Lubbock Avalanche

Journal, April 13, 2008.

Langton, Elizabeth. “Bringing back part of history.” Lubbock Avalanche Journal, August 31, 1996.

Leavenworth Times, (Leavenworth, Kansas), May, 16, 1957.

Privett, Tony. “Harvey House, Slaton History Intertwined.” The Slatonite, July 30, 1992.

“Railroad Moved Settlers West In Boxer-Coaches.” The Slaton Slatonite, 20 August 1959, p.5.

Simon, Ted J. “Trainload of Memories.” Lubbock Avalanche Journal, December 19, 1991.

The Slaton Slatonite (Slaton, Texas), 19 May 1916.

Westerbrook, Ray. “Slaton heritage group makes plans to restore Harvey House.”

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, January 29, 1995.

Wichita Evening Eagle, (Wichita, Kansas), 1 May 1957.

Oral Histories

Cranfill, Wendell. Interview by Brenna Stewart, tape recording, Lubbock, Texas, 26 April 2003.

Farschon, Rose. Interview by Brenna Stewart, tape recording, Slaton, Texas, 10 March 2003.

Johnson, Molly. Interview by Brenna Stewart, tape recording, Jenks, Oklahoma, 22 March 2003.

Motion Picture

Sidney, George. The Harvey Girls. (California: Warner Brothers, 1945), motion picture.


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Archival Research

Advertisements, box 6, folders 124-126, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Byron Harvey, box 3, folder 31, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special

Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Contest, box 1, folders 15-16, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Daggett Harvey, to Mollie Quinn, 13 May 1948, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Department of Promotions “Fred Harvey History, box 6, folder 120, Fred Harvey

Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Fred Harvey, box 6, box 124-126, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special

Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. “Gertrude K. Burton, to Readers Digest, 30 October 1940, copy, Fred Harvey Company

Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Harvey Girl Training Manual, box 6, folder 109, Fred Harvey Company Collection,

1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Menus, box 4, folder 98, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special

Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff. Mollie Quinn, to Daggett Harvey, 13 May 1948, transcript in the hand of Mollie Quinn,

Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986, Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

Script “Contact Men,” box 5, folder 84, Fred Harvey Company Collection, 1900-1986,

Special Collections and Archives Department, Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

PERMISSION TO COPY

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master‟s

degree at Texas Tech University or Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, I

agree that the Library and my major department shall make it freely available for research

purposes. Permission to copy this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the

Director of the Library or my major professor. It is understood that any copying or

publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my further

written permission and that any user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Agree (Permission is granted.)

___Brenna Stewart Dugan__________________________ _10 – 21 – 08 _____

Student Signature Date Disagree (Permission is not granted.) _______________________________________________ _________________ Student Signature Date

“girls wanted: for service at the fred harvey houses”

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