DID YOU KNOW?
A Biography of
Fred Harvey
Article by Michael Joseph Lynch
Fred Harvey sometime in the 1800’s
Kansas, who operated a chain of restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, each called the “Harvey House,” and often staffed by “Harvey Girls.”
Anyway, he arrived in New York City in the 1850’s first. It was there that he learned the restaurant business one pay grade at a time, unknowingly planting the seeds for a career in the hospitality industry paralleling the railroad. In 1861, his first business partner, William Doyle, absconded with every penny their restaurant had and after that is when Fred left for New Orleans, then Saint Louis, Missouri. He then opened a restaurant in St. Louis, and when it failed, he worked as a freight agent for a railroad.
In October 1862, Harvey’s wife Ann died following complications in the birth of their second child, and he ended up remarrying again 4 months later. He has 4 children with his new wife, but his 2 children with the first wife died of scarlet
I always found it fascinating how certain individuals can go from ordinary to famous and well-known. This person I will be talking about is one of those individuals who have changed the hospitality industry as we know it. Since I enjoy traveling so much, I have seen different places along the way that are former restaurants and hotels owned by this man, some of which have been remodeled, and others, museums of this guy’s life all over different states at different places I have vacationed in the past while seeing places still bearing his name.
You will find that more than 140 years ago Fred Harvey quietly set the stage in both hospitality and retailing and wound up with a ringside seat along Route 66 when its time came. there are some facts and a brief history about this entrepreneur.
Frederick Henry Harvey, was born in 1835 in London, England, and died February 9th, 1901 in Leavenworth,