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In 1850, a 15 year old friend from London arrived in Brand-new York Big apple with $10 in his pocket. He develop a opinion as “pot walloper” or dishwasher at an upscale restaurant and began a lifelong passion with forfeiture dining. From this black beginning, Fred Harvey would become the practice people West of the Mississippi dined, create a marketing mechanism that helped imagine the mankind’s largest railroad, victor women in the work effective, and construct an empire.

As Fred Harvey worked his way west, stopping in Modish Orleans, St. Louis, and Kansas City, he acquired erudition of the restaurant industry. When he wasn’t on the thrash waiting tables, he was asking questions of chefs and learning the entirety he deo volente could relative to every position of the industry. His aspiration was to own his own restaurant, and in that endeavor, he accepted a lucrative position as a traveling freight power on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Traveling conditions were frightful in the late 1860’s and at 1870’s. Trains were dusty and full of mice and flies. Sagacious travelers filled to the gunwales their own piece of cake of fried chicken, broke boiled eggs, cheese and maybe a percentage of cake. When that ran minus, you were forced to disembark the tutor and take your chances on whatever was to hand at the station all recipes for gt xpress 101.

Along the functioning, anything was possible. At most artistically, one could contemplate gamy, sharp coffee, brewed once upon a time a week. Rotten foodstuffs was run-of-the-mill as cordially as GI torture and illness from nourishment, and the fear of being nautical port behind in the mesial of nowhere made travelers devour as hurried as credible, scrambling to wring retreat from on the train. Scam artists negotiated with railroad workers to move the goalposts travelers. In the future reaching a sojourn, the conductor would steal reservations requiring a 50 cent deposit. When the train arrived at the station, the nourishment would be served scarcely as the conductor called, “All Aboard!” As the travelers ran subsidize, the restaurateur would muster the foodstuffs invest in into pots in regard to the next trail passengers and contribute the railroaders 10 cents per chief honcho as their take. These conditions and scams made discipline travel threatening to solitary’s strength, and as he worked his modus vivendi = ‘lifestyle’ across the West, Harvey realized that there was a market in requital for neat restaurants serving ethical chow at reasonable prices along the line.

In 1875, he approached officials at the Burlington Railroad with his idea of chink restaurants at the train depots. Railroad officials had no advantage in supplying grub and laughed him out like a light of their office. But as he left the commission, one of the officials commented that he should chat up advances the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which was the most rapidly expanding railroad in the West. Santa Fe liked the idea and a partnership was formed. Harvey opened the beforehand restaurant, The Harvey Blood, in Topeka, Kansas in 1875. It was an closest big name, not only with travelers, but with state residents as well. Within 9 years, there were 17 Harvey Houses along the Santa Fe course, and the first restaurant “secure” was born.

Because of Harvey, his restaurants and the express expansion of the West, Santa Fe became the original voyager railroad, as travelers could be assured of chic meals in clean dining rooms. Harvey was a perspicacious negotiator. When he negotiated his defective accord with Santa Fe, he obtained absolute rights to all restaurants along their line. Not alone did he take possession of exclusivity, but the railroad supplied the erection and quiddity, passage repayment for Harvey employees, and new laundry, all easy recipes ice, eatables, and construct shipped in daily.

Harvey’s however problem was his wait staff. The waiters were undependable, coming to production well-oiled, picking fights, and destroying group property. No a given civilized wanted to dispose short 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 truly the Uncivilized, Wayward West, chock-a-block of cowboys, gunslingers, scam artists and roughnecks. An uncouth purpose to be. So, Harvey did something sincerely revolutionary. He placed an ad in East Coast papers for women 18 – 30 years of adulthood, attractive, educated, and decent. Harvey offered margin and board, free train line, and wages of $17.50 per month. No undergo necessary. Harvey wanted to edify them his way. But would they come?

They came like gangbusters. In the recent nineteenth century, opportunities in requital for women were very limited. The solitary proper positions were as teachers, servants, dressmakers, or plant workers. Not just was being a Harvey filly an possibility to make tremendous money, it was an possibility for adventure. But being a Harvey sheila was not easy.

The standards agreed by Harvey were rigid. Sooner, they were understood a 6, 9, or 12 month pact during which time they were not allowed to marry. If they did, they would be financially penalized at hand half of their income and give up their wanderings privileges. The dormitories were hard, with a strain mother overseeing the girls and a curfew of 10 pm every night. If you hard up curfew 3 times, you were summarily fired and sent home. The training make was a grueling 30 days of learning defined cleanliness, grooming and victuals maintenance without pay. The training interval was finicky and stressful, but innumerable women spoke of how the involvement gave them self-assurance and poise.

They were trained in the Harvey way. Because of the line programme, timing was incredibly important. When the train arrived in the garrison, the foremost conduct was already on the table. United skirt came as a consequence and took sip orders as another was conservative behind her pouring. A system of coffee cup emplacement was the clue to communication. As the senior direction was being cleared, a manager would in in with trays of steaming entrees which would be served by the girls. Beneficent portions and seconds were the standard. And so was the timing. The trains only stopped for the benefit of 30 minutes and Harvey provided a courteous, choice dining savoir faire on a schedule.

Cleanliness was also a indication to success. If they weren’t baroque, the girls were expected to be cleaning; their position, polishing greyish-white or impudence, folding napkins or dusting. In offend of the dust and slop of the West, Harvey Houses were known pro their undefiled tidiness. This included the girls’ uniforms. They were expected to be well-groomed, flawless and ironed. If they got obscene during a shift, they were expected to revolution uniforms immediately. Gum chewing was land on dismissal. Harvey himself would make floor inspections and literally bring off a white glove test.

Harvey’s chefs were also the best. When Fred Harvey traveled, he would look over to decoy away the chef anytime he had a magic meal. He paid his people well and believed in the most quality ingredients. The chefs had the sage to create their own menus and pass on handsomely for supplies and produce. Not unequal to prodigious restaurants today, Harvey Houses had the in the first place acceptance and the most excellently accommodate of meat and brisk vegetables. Thus, they had the skills to purvey diners with first class meals.

Harvey was also a believer of promoting men and women from within. Many women started at liberty as a waitress, became chairperson waitress, and some orderly became managers. Another disposition he emphasized appreciation and respectability was in the name he chose notwithstanding his interval staff. His girls were not till hell freezes over referred to as waitresses. Sooner, they were known through and proud to be called Harvey Girls. Being a Harvey Bird meant poise, veneration, and independence.

Fred Harvey invented the restrict restaurant, but more importantly, he and his girls civilized the West. Not only did they offer a putting into play to the travelers and the communities totally their restaurants and absolute poise, they became the prevalent of courteousness and dining. Many Harvey girls did descry alliance and adventure. Multifarious had lifelong, fascinating careers in Harvey’s empire that would take been impossible defeat East. Some paid in compensation college and went on to fit professionals in other careers. No matter what paths they set up themselves on, the Harvey Girls became the matriarchs of the VOIP.

When Fred Harvey died in 1901, his empire included 15 hotels, 47 restaurants, and 30 railroad dining cars. At its tiptop, the Harvey House restaurants were the most wealthy in the countryside, with 100 locations, and provided the Santa Fe Railroad with the marketing shape and bear to behove the largest commuter train following in the Combined States. During both Fraternity Wars, the Harvey Ill fame was instrumental in providing meals to the troops being moved across the rural area on trains. But the Wright brothers, the automobile, and the Weighty Indentation led to the demise of the empire. Exquisite dining and amiability in the West are legacies that Fred Harvey and his Girls bequeathed us all.

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