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

Journalists write so beautifully unfortunately their research is usually not worth a damn. I hope he has his facts about Harvey correct because it's a great story and well written. What he has to say about Deming and Tombstone is ridiculous nonsense.

The Heard Museum in Phoenix currently has a special exhibit which centers on Fred Harvey and his unique "brand name," part of the American culture years before Coca Cola. Westerners are likely to have a better sense of Fred Harvey who, in a brilliant negotiation with the Santa Fe Railroad/Railway, delivered on a promise to serve passengers meals in a timely fashion in what can only be described as elegant for its day. In exchange for transporting fresh and luscious foods, the railroad benefitted by assuring its customers of pleasant stops en route. Rather than wolfing down quick snacks on a railroad journey, Harvey guaranteed formal, sit down dining rooms in which splendid food was served by waitstaff in crisp uniforms (after a certain time, waitstaff were all women who were chosen, trained, and housed by the Harvey enterprise; Judy Garland played a Harvey Girl in a film of the same name). When Wild West cowboys wanted to be rowdy and carry their guns in the restaurants, Harvey held firm and reminded them that they use actually had to wear jackets to dine. In fact, Fred Harvey told them he ran the place, that rowdies weren't welcome: "If you don't behave like gentlemen, you can't stay here and you can't come again. Now put up your guns and take a drink with Fred Harvey." And, after Harvey tossed Red John to the floor, he told him he could not swear in the place either. Word got around: the Harvey restaurants and hotels had a standard. WC Fields once said that the buffalo fed enough westerners to get their picture on the nickel, but Fred Harvey fed them so well that he deserved to have his picture on both sides of the dime.Harvey was an immigrant from England in the 1850's and in his 40's, his visionary network took shape, one elegant building at a time. With the emergence of the Gilded Age, fine dining became an expectation of the well heeled traveler. Perhaps an unanticipated consequence of the "nice girls" Harvey hired, trained, and housed was that Harvey also brought lovely ladies to the West (they couldn't wear make up, they wore uniforms, they stayed in nicely appointed rooms, and they were proud of their work). Fried notes that Harvey's methods are still studied in graduate schools of management and marketing. Given the brilliant legacy established by his innovative father, son Ford continued and expanded the vision after his father's death in 1901. One wonders how the childhood shaped the man---we know that Harvey's own father was a tailor who was called into court for his debts.This book is better than the film---for sure. Fried has skillfully written a remarkable chronicle about a man and his family who together helped shape American culture: the culinary experience, travel experience, patriotism (he fed soldiers for free), social generosity (a vignette about two kids and their impoverished mom being the guests of Fred Harvey will move even the stoniest heart), and entrepreneurship with ethics. Happily, the award winning book is well illustrated and well documented. I think just possibly this book was the best read of the past season. Book groups on the serious side might welcome 400 pages worth reading. When the last of the great Harvey houses was shuttered (at La Posdada in Winslow, Arizona), architect Mary Colter was 87 years old; she had been instrumental in the design and implementation of southwestern design---right down to the textiles used on the trains and the china patterns in the restaurants. We somehow wish Colter could know that La Posada is back up and running and the Turquoise Room serves up splendid food and Harvey hospitality even today.

Being a Kansan who grew up in a city that had a Harvey House, I was generally aware of Fred and his enterprises. But I figured there was a great deal more to learn about Mr. Harvey and the company he developed. Stephen Fried proved me right with his excellent book. He has written a clearly well-researched history of the man Fred Harvey and the company he created and so thoroughly devoted his life to.As I read this book, it became apparent that Fred Harvey was quite the innovator. He understood early on that the quality of both food and service that was available to travelers in post Civil War America was woefully lacking. He knew what needed to be done and did it. His business model and philosophy were simple, and therefore could be replicated with relative ease up and down the line. Fred knew that it was important to surround himself with like-minded people to ensure the business was run "the Harvey way."This book does a great job of allowing the reader to become a witness to the ups and downs of the hospitality business in those times, but also is a remarkable lens through which the reader can witness the events of history that unfolded as the nation made the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. And, as one reads about these events it becomes clear that Fred Harvey and the nation were so intertwined and interdependent as they both grew and developed. I am fairly confident that the Santa Fe Railroad would not have been nearly as successful and important as it was without it's relationship with Fred Harvey. And of course the railroad is what enabled Fred to grow his company as quickly as he did. The idea of multiple Harvey Houses, stretching over hundreds of miles and serving the same cuisine with the same quality, was years ahead of it's time.What I appreciated as much as anything about this book is the excellent way Mr. Fried told the stories of all the Harvey's and their associates. He allows the reader to really get to know the Harvey's and to experience their tremendous success as well as the tragic times of depression and the untimely deaths of Ford and Freddy Harvey.This is a book about an important slice of Americana, and as such it was breath taking to witness the high points and of course so very sad to experience the slow demise of not only the Fred Harvey Company, but also the end of the glory years of train travel in America. I was sad when our local Harvey House met the wrecking ball, but I now realize that many other locations met a similar fate. I was so thrilled to be drawn by Mr. Fried into this captivating and fascinating story and I recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in the history of eating out in our young nation, the importance of the railroad to the development of the west, and a glimpse into the life of an interesting American family.

This history of Fred Harvey and the Harvey girls give you a different perspective on the Southwest. The book shows how one man through the restaurants he built, and the women who worked for him helped populate the barren towns it went through. Great book on the women and how they ventured away from their families to find independence in the late 1800’s.

A great true story about a very successful man that did good for all mankind.

A good book

An excellent insight into early US history.

A wonderful story, well told and speaking of the classic notion of American entrepreneurial spirit. Albeit about a thorough English gentleman, and his success in the most unique fashion during a fascinating period of U.S. history. A pleasure to read start to finish. I can almost smell the hot coffee and lemon meringue pie.