After Fred Harvey
met with Charles Morse (President of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railway) in 1870s with the idea of setting up Harvey Houses with hotel
and dining along the Santa Fe right of way
became a reality, a profound change came to the American west. The
innovative chain of 84 elegant hotels, lunchrooms and restaurants that
predated Route 66, were staffed by single women. In Santa Fe, New
Mexico, those women were honored by New Mexico Governor
Susana Martinez as well as the mayors of Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
The
anniversary of the Harvey House franchise was celebrated because of what
it did for women and the higher standard the Harvey Houses created for
the hotel business out west.
Those
approximately 100,000 women that staffed the Harvey Houses were
frequently immigrants or from small towns that were looking for economic
opportunities. Women from farms and small towns earned money
and sent it home to help support the family homestead.
The rules the
women had to abide by began with not being not married was strictly
enforced as well as being clean and well-groomed. The women provided the
cooking, cleaning and other upgraded hotel services
as these clean and modern establishments offered a superior option to
the lower grade nearby hotels. These trackside institutions that were
100 miles apart, flourished until the Route 66 highway was created which
gradually eroded the Harvey House luster and
ultimately led to their closure when automobile use which no longer
limited travelers to hotels near the Santa Fe Railway.
Now, museums along the Santa Fe route dedicated to the Harvey Houses that were actual former facilities. Belen, NM is where the one of the famous 'The Harvey House' establishments once flourished. This museum is dedicated to its history in Belen and is adjacent to the Santa Fe Railway (now BNSF) right-of-way.
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