From Railroads to Hospitality: The Fred Harvey Legacy
Meet Fred Harvey
Frederick Henry “Fred” Harvey (1835-1901) was a businessman, restaurateur, and founder of the Fred Harvey company.
Fred Harvey
Born in London, England on June 27, 1835, Fred immigrated to the United States in 1853, where he got his first experience in the restaurant business as an employee at Smith & McNell’s restaurant in New York City. He later moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he ran the dining room at the Merchants Dining Saloon and Restaurant.
Photo: “Hand-Colored Portrait of Fred Harvey”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.005, HP.2011.1.8. New Mexico History Museum.
Rocky Beginnings
Fred married his first wife, Ann, in 1859, and together they had two children, Edward Martin Harvey (1861-1865) and Charles Frederick Harvey (1862-1865).
Kansas City
Unfortunately, Fred lost his restaurant in 1861 when his business partner ran off with their savings to join the Confederate Army, and in 1862 his wife Ann died soon after the birth of their second child.
Photo: “Street Scene, Kansas City, Missouri”. Photographs, black-and-white negatives. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.2.005. New Mexico History Museum.
A New Start
Fred Harvey married his second wife, Barbara Sarah “Sally” Mattas (1842-1913), on January 20, 1863, and the family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas.
In 1865, both of Fred’s young sons from his first marriage died from scarlet fever. Fred and Barbara later went on to have five children together: Ford Ferguson Harvey (1866-1928), Minnie Frances Harvey Huckel (1871-1943), Marie Jeanette “Marie” Harvey Hall (1873-1958), Byron Schermerhorn Harvey, Sr. (1876-1954), and Sybil Margaret Harvey Parker (1879-1943).
Barbara Sarah "Sally" Mattas
A savvy businessman and entrepreneur, Fred Harvey worked several different jobs over the years, including railroad mail clerk, newspaper advertisement salesman, and railroad ticket agent. Fred’s many years of traveling across the country via the railroad meant he was very familiar with the poor quality of food and lodgings available for travelers.
“Portrait of Barbara Mattas Harvey, Leavenworth, Kansas”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.009. New Mexico History Museum.
The Fred Harvey Company
Fred Harvey’s Topeka lunchroom opened for business in January 1876—a date which is now considered as the beginning of the Fred Harvey company.
In 1875, Harvey returned to the restaurant business when he and a partner took over three eating houses along the Kansas Pacific Railroad in Lawrence and Wallace, Kansas, and Hugo, Colorado. Fred found his partner and the Kansas Pacific difficult to work with, so he made a new handshake deal with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to run the lunchroom in its depot in Topeka, Kansas.
Fred Harvey dining hall
Following his success in Topeka, Fred took over the Santa Fe Railway’s eating houses and depot hotels in Florence, Kansas in 1878 and in Lakin, Kansas and La Junta, Colorado in 1879.
“Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Depot and Fred Harvey Dining Hall, Topeka, Kansas”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.3.004, HP.2011.1.9. New Mexico History Museum.
Harvey Houses
Fred Harvey’s railroad eating house business continued to grow. As the Santa Fe Railway expanded west through New Mexico, Arizona, and California; south into Oklahoma and Texas; and east across Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois; Fred opened eating houses in or next to the railroad’s passenger depots.
The Fred Harvey Painted Desert Inn
These eating houses, which sometimes included hotel rooms, came to be known as “Harvey Houses.”
“William and Frederick Harvey in Front of the Fred Harvey Company’s Painted Desert Inn, Arizona”. Photographs, color negatives. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.182. New Mexico History Museum.
The Montezuma Experiment
Fred also tried out several new business strategies in New Mexico, including managing the Santa Fe Railway’s massive new luxury hotel and health resort at Las Vegas Hot Springs.
Montezuma Hotel
The hotel, known as the Montezuma, opened in April 1882 but burned down in January 1884. Though the hotel was rebuilt, Fred decided not to manage the second iteration due to poor profitability and other difficulties.
“Laura Cornell Harvey Walking by the Montezuma Castle, Formerly the Montezuma Hotel, Montezuma, New Mexico”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.2.145. New Mexico History Museum.
Harvey Girls
Fred’s other business innovation in New Mexico started at the Raton Harvey House in 1883, when he replaced his African American waitstaff with young, white, typically single women.
Harvey Girls
These waitresses soon became the standard at all of Fred Harvey’s eating houses and were known as “Harvey Girls.”
“‘Me and Morine, 1917, Hutchinson, Kansas’”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.3.002. New Mexico History Museum.
Thriving Business
Fred Harvey’s hard work and business acumen created a successful and profitable company.
Inside a ATSF Railway Car
By 1896, the Fred Harvey company had locations in thirteen states and territories as well as a contract to run all the Santa Fe Railway’s eating houses, hotels, dining cars, newsstands, and retail shops.
“Byron S. Harvey Sr. And Group of Men in ATSF Railway Car”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.042. New Mexico History Museum.
Passing the Torch
However, the constant traveling and stress had taken a toll on Fred’s health. He brought his oldest son Ford back from college to learn the business and started spending long stretches of time in England and Europe.
Young man, possibly Ford F. Harvey
While Fred traveled back and forth across the Atlantic for important business and communicated other business decisions through telegrams and letters, Ford Harvey and Fred’s right-hand man David Benjamin gradually assumed more and more responsibility for the Fred Harvey company during the late 1880s and 1890s.
“Portrait of a Young Man With a Hat and Walking Stick, Possibly Ford F. Harvey”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.011. New Mexico History Museum.
Death of Fred Harvey
Fred’s health took a turn for the worst in 1899, when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Fred Harvey
Fred Harvey died on February 9, 1901, in Leavenworth, Kansas, and was buried in the Harvey family plot in Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing, Kansas. Following his death, the Fred Harvey company continued under the leadership of Fred Harvey’s sons and grandsons until 1968, when it was acquired by Amfac, Inc.
“Portrait of Fred Harvey”. Photographs, photographic prints. Harvey Family Photograph Collection. PAAC.0119.1.007. New Mexico History Museum.
View this portrait in the archives