Harvey Houses

In the early years of railroading, trains would stop for a few minutes at meal times and give passengers the opportunity to run out for ten minutes and eat. Usual to call the food substandard would be an understatement. This was especially true in the west. Enter Fred Harvey an immigrant from England. He set up his first Harvey's restaurant in Topeka Kansas. The food was first class, and the staff was a carefully screened group of women. The restaurants were an instant success and soon there were 54 of them dotting Santa Fe stops. Harvey soon became in charge of the dining cars along the railroad as well.