Our little club toured this lovely bed and breakfast. The Slaton Harvey House is located at 400 Rail Road Street in Slaton, Texas.
This Fred Harvey Eating House was built in 1912 and has been renovated and made into a bed and breakfast or meeting house. It is owned by a non-profit organization.
Here we are: Linda, me, Vera Mae, Sylvia, Shirley, and Nell.
This is the news stand in the event area downstairs. It is set up very similar to the way it was in 1912.
Jessica Kelly was our guide and historian for the tour. She is explaining the railroad system where all the Harvey Houses were located. Thanks, Jessica, for a pleasant and informative afternoon.
This is the Pueblo Room, furnished with an antique bed, beautiful linens, and art. This is the only room on the first floor.
This chair has the original fabric that the Santa Fe Rail Road used and it is in the Pueblo Room.
Shirley is looking at an all wood model train that was donated to the bed and breakfast.
Fred Harvey was a perfectionist and made surprise visits to the various restaurants to make sure everything was up to snuff. All of the china and flatware was branded with "Fred Harvey". The customers could put their orders in to the telegrapher who would relay the message and when the train arrived the food would be ready to be served. They could be in and out in 20 minutes. I read that the men had to wear a coat into the dining room.
Each room has its own bathroom.
This is the "commons" upstairs where the only TV is located.
There are many games to play, all stored under this table.
Vera, Sylvia, Nell and Jessica in the "commons".
Books instead of TV. And there is coffee for those who want to stay up late.
Twin beds are in the Hopi Room.
Comfy, over stuffed chair in the Hopi Room.
The Zuni Room.
Antique dresser in the Zuni Room.
This little room with the twin bed is part of the Zuni Room.
The Navajo Room.
The Apache Room with a sleigh bed.
The Apache Room. All of the rooms here are named after an Indian tribe to go with the Santa Fe Rail Road theme. Eventually, Fred Harvey had Indian wares for sale at some of the stops along the way to San Francisco.
These are the uniforms the Harvey House girls work. If they got something on the apron, they had to go change then. The laundry was done somewhere else, and was part of the perks for the girls. The girls were expected to look sharp at all times.
This is a rail road nail and the number on it is for the year it was put in to service. This one was 1932.
Yes, they had lobster and sea food, all shipped in on the train. And you could get an alcoholic drink every day except on Sunday.
At first I thought the lamp shade had been broken, but this represents the situation in 1912. One was electric and one was gas because electricity was unreliable and they needed gas as a backup--just in case.
One of the stained glass windows is original and the rest are reproductions that look exactly like the original.
An example of beautiful period furniture in the Slaton Harvey House.
Fred Harvey was a true entrepreneur who saw an opportunity and took it. I have read that he was Scottish. He did emigrate from Liverpool England to New York City where he worked as a dishwasher. He saved his money instead of blowing it on wild living, and used his cash to move to New Orleans where he worked in a restaurant and learned the business from the ground up. In 1853 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and six years later he and a partner opened a restaurant. The Civil War broke out; his partner joined the Confederacy; business dried up and Fred went broke. Fred took different jobs on riverboats, and worked in the post office at St. Joseph, Missouri. He sorted mail for the first rail road post office in Leavenworth, Kansas. During this time he got to see first hand how hideous the lunchrooms along the rail lines were. The trains stopped about every hundred miles to take on water and coal or wood, and the hungry passengers had to hunt up a restaurant, get served, eat and be back before the train took off. Some of the folks missed the train, of course. Fred saw an opportunity, so he asked his manager about putting in a lunchroom at the rail road. The myopic fool said, "No". Then he had the opportunity to pitch the idea to Charles Morse who was superintendent of the AT&SF Rail Road, and who also like gourmet food. Morse liked the idea and in 1876 Fred Harvey opened up the first Harvey House at Topeka, Kansas. Harvey focused on cleanliness, great service, and reasonable prices. The men he hired to work in the eateries were wild, and undependable. One Harvey House didn't open one morning because the hands got drunk the night before and were hung over, unable or unwilling to roll out and go to work. Fred came up with the novel idea of hiring young ladies to work in the establishments. These young ladies had to be single and remain single for the duration of their six month contract. They had to have at least an eighth grade education, be articulate, neat and clean, and have spotless reputations and morals. Harvey paid the rail fare to the place they chose to work, furnished the uniforms, laundry service, provided room and board, plus they got a monthly salary. This was a real adventure for the girls and a new vocation at a time when the only respectable work was being a maid or teaching school. Automobile travel, interstate roads that bypassed towns caused the Harvey Houses to gradually close. Eighty-four houses were open at the peak of the business and only a few are still open for business. Be on the lookout for these Harvey Houses during your travels of the Southwest: La Fonda in Santa Fe, Montezuma Castle, Las Vegas, New Mexico, La Posada Winslow, Arizona, El Tovar, Grand Canyon, Arizona. Restoration is underway for La Casteneda in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
