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In 1850, a 15 year old boy from London arrived in Experimental York Megalopolis with $10 in his pocket. He found a position as “pot walloper” or dishwasher at an upscale restaurant and began a lifelong passion with exceptional dining. From this black inception, Fred Harvey would vacillate turn into the habit people West of the Mississippi dined, create a marketing mechanism that helped create the in every respect’s largest railroad, victor women in the toil wring, and establish an empire.

As Fred Harvey worked his habit west, stopping in Modish Orleans, St. Louis, and Kansas Metropolis, he acquired erudition of the restaurant industry. When he wasn’t on the down waiting tables, he was asking questions of chefs and erudition the entirety he deo volente could relative to every aspect of the industry. His aspiration was to own his own restaurant, and in that endeavor, he accepted a lucrative placement as a traveling freight cause on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Traveling conditions were frightful in the up to date 1860’s and early 1870’s. Trains were dusty and unshaded of mice and flies. Knowing travelers packed their own picnic of fried chicken, broke boiled eggs, cheese and possibly a percentage of cake. When that ran insensible, you were phony to land the followers and pinch your chances on whatever was at one’s disposal at the station all recipes corned beef.

Along the modus operandi, anything was possible. At a-one, one could surmise miasmatical, freezing coffee, brewed once upon a time a week. Spoiled food was common as well as GI depression and indisposition from food, and the foresee of being left-hand behind in the medial of nowhere made travelers eat as unrestrainedly as reasonable, scrambling to wring retreat from on the train. Scam artists negotiated with railroad workers to bilk travelers. In the future reaching a stop, the conductor would assume reservations requiring a 50 cent deposit. When the queue arrived at the standing, the commons would be served just as the conductor called, “All Aboard!” As the travelers ran back, the restaurateur would scrape the foodstuffs back into pots exchange for the next trail passengers and give the railroaders 10 cents per move as their take. These conditions and scams made staff journey threatening to one’s strength, and as he worked his point across the West, Harvey realized that there was a market payment clean restaurants serving good subsistence at rational prices along the line.

In 1875, he approached officials at the Burlington Railroad with his thought of cranny restaurants at the cortege depots. Railroad officials had no piece in supplying prog and laughed him out of their office. But as he communistic the commission, story of the officials commented that he should approach the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which was the most like greased lightning expanding railroad in the West. Santa Fe liked the idea and a partnership was formed. Harvey opened the first restaurant, The Harvey Firm, in Topeka, Kansas in 1875. It was an actual star, not only with travelers, but with local residents as well. Within 9 years, there were 17 Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe route, and the win initially restaurant “manacle” was born.

Because of Harvey, his restaurants and the lightning-fast expansion of the West, Santa Fe became the premiere passenger railroad, as travelers could be assured of exquisite meals in uninfected dining rooms. Harvey was a percipient negotiator. When he negotiated his defective agreement with Santa Fe, he obtained choice rights to all restaurants along their line. Not alone did he obtain exclusivity, but the railroad supplied the edifice and property, text for Harvey employees, and brand-new laundry, reuben sandwich all recipes ice, eatables, and put shipped in daily.

Harvey’s one question was his wait staff. The waiters were undependable, coming to production drunk, picking fights, and destroying group property. No rhyme civilized wanted to dispose not at home West. Where could he wiggle 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 justly the Desert, Wild West, chock-a-block of cowboys, gunslingers, scam artists and roughnecks. An uncivilized niche to be. So, Harvey did something truly revolutionary. He placed an ad in East Coast papers in regard to women 18 – 30 years of mature, attractive, polished, and decent. Harvey offered flat and quarter, cost-free train passage, and wages of $17.50 per month. No acquaintance necessary. Harvey wanted to string 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 exceptionally limited. The at most apt positions were as teachers, servants, dressmakers, or plant workers. Not merely was being a Harvey frail an opening to make huge boodle, it was an chance for adventure. But being a Harvey lass was not easy.

The standards gel away Harvey were rigid. First, they were understood a 6, 9, or 12 month contract during which repeatedly they were not allowed to marry. If they did, they would be financially penalized around half of their salary and lose out their travel privileges. The dormitories were hard, with a abode mammy 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 process was a grueling 30 days of wisdom rigid cleanliness, grooming and table armed forces without pay. The training era was difficult and stressful, but innumerable women spoke of how the ordeal gave them self-assurance and poise.

They were trained in the Harvey way. Because of the train programme, timing was incredibly important. When the retinue arrived in the station, the premier conduct was already on the table. An individual girl came as a consequence and took tipple orders as another was right behind her pouring. A way of coffee cup emplacement was the clue to communication. As the senior course was being cleared, a manager would put one’s hands in with trays of steaming entrees which would be served via the girls. Generous portions and seconds were the standard. And so was the timing. The trains alone stopped for the benefit of 30 minutes and Harvey provided a refined, delicious dining happening on a schedule.

Cleanliness was also a key to success. If they weren’t detailed, the girls were expected to be cleaning; their position, polishing silver or insolence, folding napkins or dusting. In spite of the dust and dirt of the West, Harvey Houses were known for their undefiled tidiness. This included the girls’ uniforms. They were expected to be smart, gleaming and ironed. If they got dirty during a scrape by, they were expected to exchange uniforms immediately. Gum chewing was prepare with a view dismissal. Harvey himself would give rise to surprise inspections and truly act a wan glove test.

Harvey’s chefs were also the best. When Fred Harvey traveled, he would have a stab to allure away the chef anytime he had a magic meal. He paid his people well and believed in the finest distinction ingredients. The chefs had the officialdom to manufacture their own menus and pass on handsomely payment supplies and produce. Not contrasting noteworthy restaurants today, Harvey Houses had the in the first place acceptance and the a- sell of provisions and brisk vegetables. As a result, they had the skills to cater diners with first type meals.

Harvey was also a believer of promoting men and women from within. Varied women started evasion as a waitress, became chairperson waitress, and some to became managers. Another way he emphasized appreciation and respectability was in the pinpoint he chose over the extent of his wait staff. His girls were not under any condition referred to as waitresses. Rather, they were known by and proud to be called Harvey Girls. Being a Harvey Girl meant self-possession, bearing, and independence.

Fred Harvey invented the restraint restaurant, but more importantly, he and his girls civilized the West. Not merely did they accord a putting into play to the travelers and the communities through their restaurants and mere air, they became the prevalent of civility and dining. Multitudinous Harvey girls did manage association and adventure. Diverse had lifelong, fascinating careers in Harvey’s empire that would be undergoing been unresolvable back East. Some paid in compensation college and went on to develop professionals in other careers. No business what paths they start themselves on, the Harvey Girls became the matriarchs of the College & University.

When Fred Harvey died in 1901, his empire included 15 hotels, 47 restaurants, and 30 railroad dining cars. At its culmination, the Harvey Domicile restaurants were the most profitable in the outback, with 100 locations, and provided the Santa Fe Railroad with the marketing tool and support to behove the largest commuter following following in the Connected States. During both Cosmos Wars, the Harvey Ill fame was contributory in providing meals to the troops being moved across the mountains on trains. But the Wright brothers, the automobile, and the Cyclopean Indentation led to the demise of the empire. Prime dining and urbanity in the West are legacies that Fred Harvey and his Girls bequeathed us all.