Fred Harvey and his Bird’s-eye View of History

By Stephen Fried

When I set out to write a book about Fred Harvey–who all but invented the American hospitality industry at his trackside restaurants and hotels between Chicago and Los Angeles along the Santa Fe–I thought I’d be writing a business biography set in the late 1800s, with some nice historical touches of the Wild West. It didn’t occur to me until about six months into the process that the story would actually have to extend two generations beyond Fred—all the way through the 1940s (when the physicists from Los Alamos used the Fred Harvey hotel, La Fonda, as their regular Santa Fe watering hole for successes and setbacks.) So instead of a historical biography, the book would need to be, for lack of a better term, a biographical history (which is why it took six years and not the two I promised my publisher.)

Fred, his son Ford, their top managers and the generations of their beloved waitresses, the “Harvey Girls” were afforded a birds-eye view of an enormous number of events in U.S. history that we often take for granted, and sometimes learn about pretty dryly. So I decided to recreate as many of the events that Fred and his employees experienced as I could, based on a new reading of original newspaper accounts (some on microfilm others, mercifully, now available on ProQuest) and then cross-referenced with the cache of never-before-seen Harvey family datebooks, correspondence and business files, as well as Santa Fe railroad archives.

From the manhunt for the escaped “Billy the Kid” in 1881 (a local celebrity in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where Fred had two restaurants and two hotels, which Billy sometimes patronized), to the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1889 (which left from the Arkansas City, Kansas Harvey House and Santa Fe depot), to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 (for which Fred helped cater the biggest lunch in American history for the opening ceremonies and parade), to the Rough Riders reunion in 1899 (held at the new Fred Harvey resort hotel, La Castañeda, in Las Vegas), to the development of the Grand Canyon as an international tourist attraction (Fred’s son Ford ran all the hotels at the canyon, and was a major player in the development of the national park system), to Teddy Roosevelt’s famed environmental address at the Canyon edge (which turns out to have been prompted, in part over a fight concerning the placement of the Harvey hotel there), to the first transcontinental air flights in 1929 (Fred’s grandson Freddy, a WWI pilot, was an original partner with Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Curtiss and others in the company that became TWA; the first transcontinental air passenger meals were Harvey meals), to the Kansas City Massacre in 1933 (which took place in the Union Station where the Harvey company was headquartered, with bullets flying over the heads of Harvey Girls), to… well, the list really does go on.

Probably my favorite historical recreation was Albert Einstein’s 1930 visit to America, which was highlighted by the day he came to the Grand Canyon, and was greeted by Hopi Indians he thought just liked him—and didn’t realize they worked for Fred Harvey. They wanted to make him an honorary chief—as they did for all visiting dignitaries—but they didn’t know who he was.

“What’s his business?” they asked their boss, Herman Schweizer, who ran the famed Harvey Indian art business.

“He invented the Theory of Relativity,” he replied.

“All right,” they said, “we’ll call him ‘Great Relative.’”

Stephen Fried is an award-winning investigative journalist and essayist, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism. He is the author of the highly praised books Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia, Bitter Pills: Inside the Hazardous World of Legal Drugs, The New Rabbi, and Husbandry: Sex, Love & Dirty Laundry—Inside the Minds of Married Men. A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award–the Pulitzer Prize of magazine writing–Fried has been a prolific writer of feature stories and personal essays for various other publications. His new book, Appetite for America: How Visionary Business Man Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West, is available now (Bantam). To read more about the book and the author, please click here.

IMAGE: Albert Einstein at the Grand Canyon with Fred Harvey employees, courtesy of El Tovar Studio, Fred Harvey Collection, Grand Canyon National Park

Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West - One Meal at a Time

Congratulations to the following W & M winners of this book:

Sally, Cheryl, And Sue

The Invisible Hook

Cyriacus, Renaissance Man

The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola

Pingback: Fred at Wonders & Marvels! |
librarypat

We never think of this venue as a witness to history, but in this case it has proven to be.
Thank you for an interesting post.
Sylvia Faye

History is stanger and more interesting than fiction…

We stayed, years ago, at the El Tavor hotel at the Grand Canyon and there was a full moon that night…….

Recently read a book on the Chicago World’s Fair called (I believe) White City…about the men who planned and constructed the Fair and how one of them later died as he was a passenger on the Titanic….

History buff that I am I would appreciate your book….

Originally from Virginia…….

If should be lucky in the draw……I will give you our US mailing address….
Thank you for donating for the draw. Is it by chance a signed copy?
Sylvia
librarypat

For some reason the whole post did not come up when I first read it. The rest of it is even more fascinating. I find it interesting that one family was involved in so much that is part of history. It would have been wonderful to have a front row seat in their company’s dealings. The wide range of people and operations the were involved with will make this book a good read for many people. Good luck with its release.
Cheryl Smith

What an interesting book! I am familiar with the “Harvey Girls” from the movie where Judy Garland is one, but I (and obviously a lot of others) was unaware of the vast scope of this man’s influence. This looks like a fascinating look at history that will capture the attention of many (like me) who think that most books written about recent (after the Civil War) American history are not too gripping. I cannot wait to read it. Looks like a great gift for a husband/male relative or friend as well. Exciting and informative all at once! The romance of the west with good businee thrown in.
Kathy Petersen

My dad was a railroad man on the late beloved Frisco. Although he died when I was young – more than fifty years ago – the sights and sounds and, yes, the smells of the railroad still remind me of the very good times. Although I don’t remember Fred Harvey’s, anything of the railroad interests me, so sign me up for the drawing!
http://practicalarchivst.com Sally J.

This is a FASCINATING lens on U.S. History. I’m sure his publisher groaned at the long wait, but I’m glad Stephen was able to dive so deeply and expand the story beyond the senior Mr. Harvey’s lifetime. I got to learn a little bit about the Harvey original “system” when I worked as a researcher for American Girl. Orders came in from the train, and food was practically waiting for diners when they sat down. The trains waited for no one!
Sue

What a cool idea for this book. In a previous incarnation I worked my way through school as a waitress. It wasn’t at all uncommon to see and hear interesting things when the movers and shakers stopped in to eat. (Another gig as chauffer led to more unavoidable eavesdropping…service employees of the world must have some verrrrry interesting tales to tell.) Please enter my name for the drawing.
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com Editor

Love the comments ladies!! The winners of this book are: Sally, Cheryl, And Sue. Thanks!