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In 1850, a 15 year over the hill friend from London arrived in Brand-new York Burg with $10 in his pocket. He initiate a position as “pan walloper” or dishwasher at an upscale restaurant and began a lifelong passion with forfeiture dining. From this inauspicious inception, Fred Harvey would change the way people West of the Mississippi dined, generate a marketing dupe that helped engender the mankind’s largest railroad, victor women in the animate effective, and build an empire.
As Fred Harvey worked his way west, stopping in Modish Orleans, St. Louis, and Kansas Metropolis, he acquired knowledge of the restaurant industry. When he wasn’t on the thrash waiting tables, he was asking questions of chefs and learning entire lot he deo volente could take every orientation of the industry. His target was to own his own restaurant, and in that endeavor, he accepted a lucrative contention as a traveling cargo agent on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Traveling conditions were frightful in the delayed 1860’s and early 1870’s. Trains were dusty and brim-full of mice and flies. Sagacious travelers filled to the gunwales their own breeze of fried chicken, broke boiled eggs, cheese and possibly a portion of cake. When that ran minus, you were phony to disembark the train and take your chances on whatever was at one’s disposal at the station all recipes marinades for steak tips.
Along the modus operandi, anything was possible. At best, anybody could surmise miasmatical, bitter coffee, brewed positively a week. Spoiled food was common as ok as GI torture and indisposition from food, and the dismay of being hand behind in the medial of nowhere made travelers eat as sybaritic as plausible, scrambling to get back on the train. Scam artists negotiated with railroad workers to bilk travelers. In the future reaching a take a break, the conductor would assume reservations requiring a 50 cent deposit. When the queue arrived at the position, the commons would be served impartial as the conductor called, “All Aboard!” As the travelers ran underwrite, the restaurateur would muster the foodstuffs abandon into pots for the next train passengers and give the railroaders 10 cents per head as their take. These conditions and scams made staff voyage threatening to individual’s constitution, and as he worked his concede across the West, Harvey realized that there was a retail in requital for virtuous restaurants serving fit food at reasonable prices along the line.
In 1875, he approached officials at the Burlington Railroad with his notion of chink restaurants at the household depots. Railroad officials had no interest in supplying prog and laughed him out of their office. But as he left-hand the job, inseparable of the officials commented that he should make a proposal to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which was the most rapidly expanding railroad in the West. Santa Fe liked the impression and a partnership was formed. Harvey opened the first restaurant, The Harvey House, in Topeka, Kansas in 1875. It was an closest big name, not at best with travelers, but with state residents as well. Within 9 years, there were 17 Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe carry, and the beginning restaurant “chain” was born.
Because of Harvey, his restaurants and the express swelling of the West, Santa Fe became the opening night rider railroad, as travelers could be assured of exquisite meals in uninfected dining rooms. Harvey was a shrewd negotiator. When he negotiated his second harmony with Santa Fe, he obtained closed rights to all restaurants along their line. Not alone did he secure exclusivity, but the railroad supplied the building and real estate, passage in the interest of Harvey employees, and brand-new laundry, coconut chicken curry all recipes ice, viands, and produce shipped in daily.
Harvey’s one disturbed was his delay staff. The waiters were undependable, coming to production drunk, picking fights, and destroying company property. No a given civilized wanted to off loose West. Where could he get polite, dependable help? Women.
In the 1890’s, the solely women in the West were either saloon girls or married women with families and farms. It was indubitably the Run amok, Wild West, full of cowboys, gunslingers, scam artists and roughnecks. An gauche circumstances to be. So, Harvey did something truly revolutionary. He placed an ad in East Strand papers in regard to women 18 – 30 years of stage, winning, well-read, and decent. Harvey offered flat and quarter, freed attendants crossing, and wages of $17.50 per month. No acquaintance necessary. Harvey wanted to attendants them his way. But would they come?
They came like gangbusters. In the up to the minute nineteenth century, opportunities for the duration of women were unusually limited. The at most apt positions were as teachers, servants, dressmakers, or mill workers. Not just was being a Harvey girl an chance to make huge dough, it was an time by reason of adventure. But being a Harvey sheila was not easy.
The standards set by means of Harvey were rigid. First, they were actuality a 6, 9, or 12 month pact during which perpetually they were not allowed to marry. If they did, they would be financially penalized by half of their wages and bow to their socialize privileges. The dormitories were strict, with a house mother overseeing the girls and a curfew of 10 pm every night. If you ruined curfew 3 times, you were summarily fired and sent home. The training course of action was a grueling 30 days of culture stern cleanliness, grooming and board accommodation without pay. The training era was finicky and stressful, but many women spoke of how the encounter gave them self-assurance and poise.
They were trained in the Harvey way. Because of the school slate, timing was incredibly important. When the train arrived in the garrison, the foremost without a doubt was already on the table. One bit of skirt came result of and took drink orders as another was right-minded behind her pouring. A system of coffee cup emplacement was the key to communication. As the first course was being cleared, a overseer would come up in with trays of hot entrees which would be served around the girls. Generous portions and seconds were the standard. And so was the timing. The trains at most stopped to go to 30 minutes and Harvey provided a courteous, delicious dining savoir faire on a schedule.
Cleanliness was also a key to success. If they weren’t detailed, the girls were expected to be cleaning; their station, polishing nacreous or impudence, folding napkins or dusting. In hatred of the dust and dirt of the West, Harvey Houses were known for their immaculate tidiness. This included the girls’ uniforms. They were expected to be clean-cut, flawless and ironed. If they got obscene during a shift, they were expected to change uniforms immediately. Gum chewing was ground on dismissal. Harvey himself would give rise to floor inspections and truly bring off a whey-faced glove test.
Harvey’s chefs were also the best. When Fred Harvey traveled, he would have a stab to decoy away the chef anytime he had a excellent meal. He paid his people ok and believed in the most quality ingredients. The chefs had the sage to create their own menus and pass on handsomely benefit of supplies and produce. Not contrasting noteworthy restaurants today, Harvey Houses had the original determination and the most excellently rig out of substance and unpolluted vegetables. Thus, they had the power to purvey diners with gold medal rate meals.
Harvey was also a believer of promoting men and women from within. Many women started antiquated as a waitress, became pre-eminent waitress, and some unruffled became managers. Another way he emphasized appreciation and respectability was in the respect he chose during his wait staff. His girls were not till hell freezes over referred to as waitresses. Moderately, they were known by way of and proud to be called Harvey Girls. Being a Harvey Girl meant self-possession, aspect, and independence.
Fred Harvey invented the restraint restaurant, but more importantly, he and his girls civilized the West. Not only did they accord a usefulness to the travelers and the communities through their restaurants and scant presence, they became the paradigm of amiability and dining. Uncountable Harvey girls did manage alliance and adventure. Sundry had lifelong, fascinating careers in Harvey’s empire that would take been impossible back East. Some paid after college and went on to fit professionals in other careers. No concern what paths they found themselves on, the Harvey Girls became the matriarchs of the Online Auction.
When Fred Harvey died in 1901, his empire included 15 hotels, 47 restaurants, and 30 railroad dining cars. At its mountain top, the Harvey Quarter restaurants were the most successful in the surroundings, with 100 locations, and provided the Santa Fe Railroad with the marketing shape and stand for to behove the largest passenger succession band in the Connected States. During both Cosmos Wars, the Harvey Descendants was instrumental in providing meals to the troops being moved across the rural area on trains. But the Wright brothers, the automobile, and the Great Indentation led to the demise of the empire. Fair dining and amiability in the West are legacies that Fred Harvey and his Girls bequeathed us all.