When railroads linked civilization to the Wild, Wild West, there was a famous line known as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. The mighty engines along those rails spewed long plumes of steam and could tear along flat stretches at 100mph—although that had to be one rough ride! The bright spot along the journey came at stations with a Harvey House—the first chain restaurant in the United States!
The HISTORY you might know: Fast-food genius Ray Kroc sparked a business model with McDonald’s, and his story has been told and retold.
Fred Harvey created a food-based empire, too, but 85 years before Kroc!
Fred’s big idea: What if we feed those poor schmoes riding the train? And he did just that, creating a whole supply chain to deliver fine dining to the most rough, uncivilized parts of the country.
Every Harvey House was right at the train station. Within the train’s 20-minute stop for water and supplies, a passenger could get a juicy steak meal served by a charming, refined woman set before them on bone china plates atop crisp, white Irish linen—unheard of in the dusty, rambunctious Western towns.
The HISTORY you should know: Fred Harvey hired respectable women to be waitresses in his diners when a WORKING WOMAN was an insult. They became known as Harvey Girls.
Little did Fred Harvey know that he’d change the course of history by hiring intelligent, respectable women and infusing the Wild, Wild West with single ladies. Frankly—or Fredly—the Harvey Girls went West to work but ended up staying and civilizing the rough towns.
And that’s the HISTORY Behind the MYSTERY of The Harvey Girl, a serialized fiction story on Substack. Check it out here! It’s about a spunky socialite who becomes a Harvey Girl to find her treasure-hunting father in 1891. Feel free to jump into the mystery now that you know the history!