Good food served fast. That was the promise Fred Harvey made to hungry travelers on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. When Harvey, an English immigrant, opened his first restaurant in the Topeka, Kan., depot in 1876, food service on the Santa Fe line was scarce and the fare often inedible. Harvey insisted on generous portions of fresh food served quickly and courteously. Train crews wired ahead to let the restaurant know how many diners to expect; a waiter or busboy announced the train’s arrival by ringing a gong on the station’s platform. Customers were seated, served and sent on their way in about 30 minutes. Harvey’s dining rooms sparkled, and the tables were set with fine linen, china, silver and glassware. By the early 1880s, 17 Harvey Houses were open for business. The all-male waitstaffs in the still wild West would sometimes “get likkered up and go on tears,” so Harvey replaced them with young women “of good moral character, attractive and intelligent,” who agreed to follow a very strict code of conduct. The “Harvey Girl,” in a spotless dress and starched white apron, soon became the face of the franchise and a symbol of civilization on the frontier. Declining rail travel closed most Harvey Houses by the 1950s. Today, other chains that offer good food served fast make up 46 percent of the roughly 580,000 restaurants nationwide.
Originally published in the April 2013 issue of American History. To subscribe, click here.
