Harvey Girls

Civilizing the West

 In 1876, an enterprising young man named Fred Harvey saw an opportunity to make a name for himself by providing decent meals for rail travelers at decent prices. As it was, travelers were at the mercy of locals at water stops, who preyed on them by selling sandwiches and fruit at exorbitant prices. Since there were no dining cars back then, a passenger had to either go hungry or go broke!

Eventually, Fred opened Harvey House restaurants along railroad lines, providing filling meals at honest prices. He even had refrigerated rail cars for fresh meat and produce to his diners. He also provided meal services on the trains when the railroads opened dining cars and opened a few hotels for train travelers. It's believed that "blue plate specials" began at the Harvey House because meals were served on blue patterned china. Additionally, he offered larger pieces of pie, having them divided in four pieces instead of six.

Besides the excellent meals in his restaurants and clean hotel rooms, what made the Harvey Houses a success were the employees. Harvey wanted his dining service to be as high quality as his meals. He placed ads in newspapers for "single, well-mannered, educated, young women, 18-30 years of age of good character" to apply to be a Harvey Girl. Her salary would be $18.50 a month (generous for that period) plus room and board. She would be required to sign a contract that stated she would be employed at Harvey House for a period of six months. Should she leave before that time, she would forfeit half her salary. She would be expected to wear the Harvey Girl uniform and have a curfew of 10 p.m. Uniforms were starched black and white dresses and aprons with sensible shoes and a white ribbon to tie back her hair. She must wear no cosmetics or chew gum.

Girls often left before their six-month employment to marry, which isn't surprising. After all, these were industrious young women. They'd have to be to travel from their (mostly) back East homes to the wild west to embark on an independent life where they didn't know a soul. However, since they were of good character, educated, adventurous, and served delicious food, they were very attractive to men. Humorist Will Rogers said that they helped civilize the west and he was probably right.

Judy Garland starred in a film about the Harvey Girls, sparking renewed attention to them. Harvey Houses still exist today. I visited one in Hugo, Oklahoma at the old Fisco depot. The food was tasty and the atmosphere was fascinating. I couldn't help but imagine what it would have been like to be a Harvey Girl. Of course, the writer in me couldn't resist and so I wrote a book with a Harvey Girl heroine ("Tough Talk, Tender Kisses") and I had so much fun researching and writing that one! She was the "senior girl" or house mother in charge of the other girls and she took her job very seriously.

If you ever get the chance to stop in at one of the remaining Harvey Houses -- the most famous one is La Posada in Winslow, AZ -- be sure and do so. There are still quite a few scattered across the west and while the restrictions on the servers no longer apply, the food is still a good bargain.