At the age of 15, Fred Harvey left his native England for the United States. Upon his arrival in New York City, Mr. Harvey began working in the restaurant business in New York. The Civil War was bad for restaurants, but good for the railroads, and Mr. Harvey made a career change. Over the next 20 years, Mr. Harvey moved ever westward and ever higher in railroad business, but never forgot the restaurant business. Travelling for the railroads over the time reinforced Mr. Harvey’s view that improvement was needed in the food department.
Upon arrival in Kansas in 1870, Mr. Harvey met Charlie Morse, President of the fledgling Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. For the next near century, Fred Harvey’s company would bring good food at reasonable prices in clean, elegant restaurants, to the travelling public throughout the Southwest. They also brought civilization, community, and industry to the Wild West, including Santa Fe at the La Fonda Hotel, which was a Harvey Hotel for decades during the mid 20th century.
Only 15 years later, there were 17 Harvey Houses; at their peak, there were 84!
The Train Must Be Fed is a show of artist explore the social and cultural legacy of Fred Harvey in New Mexico.
Show runs June 24 through August 25
