Фред Харви компаниясы: Теміржол бойындағы қонақжайлылық империясы

Owner of the Harvey House chain of rail hospitality establishments

The Fred Harvey Company was the owner of the Harvey House chain of restaurants, hotels and other hospitality industry businesses alongside railroads in the Western United States. It was founded in 1876 by Fred Harvey to cater to the growing number of train passengers. When Harvey died in 1901, his family inherited 45 restaurants and 20 dining cars in 12 states. During World War II, Harvey Houses opened again to serve soldiers as they traveled in troop trains across the U. S. By 1968, when it was sold to Amfac, Inc. (now Xanterra Parks and Resorts, as of 2002), the Fred Harvey Company was the sixth largest food retailer in the United States. It left behind a lasting legacy of good food, dedication to customers, decent treatment of employees, and preservation of local traditions.

The company traces its origins to the 1876 opening of three railroad eatery hotels located at Wallace, Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and Hugo, Colorado, on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, who emigrated to the United States from London, England when he was 17 years old. The rapid growth of the chain soon followed, with the second location opening in Lakin, Kansas in 1879. Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the U. S.

Despite the decline of passenger train patronage in the U. S. in the 20th century with the advent of the automobile, the company survived and prospered by marketing its services to the motoring public. After 1926, Harvey Cars were used in the provision of "Indian Detours" services offered from a number of Harvey hotel locations. Fred Harvey's son Ford began the series of guided tours into the interior of the west. The company purchased a hotel in Santa Fe called La Fonda, and it became headquarters for the Indian Detours, led by guides called Couriers. The Fred Harvey legacy was continued in the family until the death of a grandson in 1965. Portions of the Fred Harvey Company have continued to operate since 1968 as part of a larger hospitality industry conglomerate, Amfac, Inc. which became Xanterra Parks and Resorts in 2002.

Before the inclusion of dining cars in passenger trains became common practice, a rail passenger's only option for meal service in transit was to patronize one of the roadhouses often located near the railroad's water stops. The rugged, landscape integrated, and culturally appropriate design principles there influenced a generation of subsequent Western U. S. architecture through the National Park Service and Civilian Conservation Corps structures built during the Great Depression and after. Mary Colter, architect for the company from 1904 to 1949, in particular sought to incorporate her designs into the natural splendor of the Canyon, drawing on its beauty. Colter focused on authenticity. Hopi House and Bright Angel Lodge, both on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, are prime examples of her work, which influenced popular interpretations of “the desert” and indigenous America. The Harvey team, with the backing of the Santa Fe railroad, created an entire set of cultural images based on the region's distinctive, and often overlooked, artistic traditions of the Native American residents and the early Spanish settlers in the area. Especially noteworthy were the buildings on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, including lodges, souvenirs shops, and special lookout points, today on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been suggested that the Harvey Houses originated the "blue plate special", a daily low priced complete meal served on a blue patterned china plate; an 1892 Harvey menu mentions them, some thirty years before the term became widespread. In addition to the AT&SF, the Harvey Company operated dining facilities for the Gulf Coast & Santa Fe, Kansas Pacific, St. Louis San Francisco, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis railways. The girls were paid $18.50 a month, plus room and board, a generous income by the standards of the time. The women were subjected to a strict 10 p. m. curfew, administered by a senior Harvey Girl who assumed the role and responsibilities of house mother. However, just the opportunity to leave their homes, enjoy travel, have new experiences, and work outside the home was very liberating for thousands of young women. This legend found expression in The Harvey Girls, a 1942 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams and in the 1946 MGM musical film of the same name which was inspired by it, starring Judy Garland.

Harvey initially balked at the suggestion that in transit dining facilities be added to all AT&SF trains operating west of Kansas City. Eventually, Harvey agreed to support the railroad in this endeavor, and the California Limited became the first AT&SF's name trains to feature Harvey Company meal service en route. Later trains, such as the vaunted Super Chief, included dining cars (staffed by Fred Harvey Company personnel) as part of the standard passenger car complement right from the outset. Mary Colter specially designed a china pattern, Mimbreno, for the Super Chief's dining cars. The original Fred Harvey Company, as well as the company's close affiliation with AT&SF, lasted until 1968 when it was purchased by the Amfac Corporation of Hawaii. Amfac was renamed Xanterra Parks & Resorts in 2002. In 2006, Xanterra purchased the Grand Canyon Railway and its properties.