Americans had a big appetite for the dining service the Harvey Girls provided in the late 1800s.
Michaeline Chance-Reay, a professor of women’s studies at Kansas State University, spoke at the Iola Public Library Monday night about the Harvey Girls.
Chance-Reay has studied Fred Harvey and his successful business for many years.
Harvey’s passion for the restaurant business began as a dishwasher. Around the time of the Civil War, the Englishman opened a restaurant in St. Louis with a partner. The relationship turned sour when the partner headed south with the money. After that Harvey took a job with a railroad and realized it was hard to find decent food on the trains.
Chance-Reay said he approached Santa Fe with the idea to open a restaurant near the tracks.
He opened his first restaurant in Topeka. His business had fine china, linen tablecloths and superior service. He did so well in Topeka that he began expanding the restaurants.
Since quality was so important to Harvey he would periodically check in on his restaurants. At one restaurant in New Mexico the waiters didn’t open the restaurant on time and they looked unkept. Harvey fired the manager and staff and replaced them all with women.
“Harvey put an ad in the newspapers asking for 17- to 30-year-old women, who were attractive, single and of good repute,” Chance-Reay said. “A lot of applicants were women from railroad families.”
Waitresses made about $200 a year including tips. Room and board were provided. In their black-and-white uniforms the waitresses became known as Harvey Girls. They typically would work for six months to a year and then return home.
Harvey’s high standards became well known and being a Harvey Girl was considered an honor. Conductors would take orders on the train to wire ahead to the restaurant.
Chance-Reay has interviewed many Harvey Girls. She said many of the women enjoyed the job and the different locations they worked. One woman told her she disliked working at the Grand Canyon because there were too many honeymooners. She preferred working in Gallup, N.M., where the Western movies were filmed.
“From the 1870s to the 1950s it is estimated 100,000 women were Harvey Girls,” Chance-Reay said. “Harvey Girls weren’t replaced; the times just changed. The war made a big difference.”
When Harvey died in 1901 from stomach cancer his family continued the business. Chance-Reay said few restaurants and hotels today have Harvey standards. A Harvey museum and restaurant is in Florence that still serves a Harvey meal.
The program is offered by the Kansas Humanities Council and was sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Harvey Girls’ history served up
