By Rosa Walston Latimer. The story of the hiring process of the Fred Harvey company is well known.  Harvey’s advertising in women’s magazines and newspapers for “educated women of good character to go West to work” enticed young women to the Kansas City office for a personal interview. If they met Harvey standards  the women […]

By Rosa Walston Latimer. Research of Fred Harvey and his inventive approach to business has revealed his contribution of many familiar hospitality-related practices such as the “blue plate” lunch special and requiring men to wear coats in the dining room. However, perhaps the Harvey “way”’s most influential and long-lasting impact is dedication to exemplary customer […]

By Rosa Walston Latimer.   When the railroad forged its way through the West, it brought Fred Harvey restaurants and hotels with it. Certainly Mr. Harvey had a unique vision and was an astute businessman, as were his sons and grandsons who continued the business after his death in 1901. However, it was the employees, […]

by Jessica Kelly Slaton Harvey House April 4, 2017 He is just a little guy, but his dreams are big. Ozzie, his brother, and his parents came to stay at the Slaton Harvey House Bed & Breakfast in September 2016. It was his sixth birthday and, being the train enthusiast he is, spending the night […]

By Rosa Walston Latimer, Author of Harvey Houses of Texas Visitors to the Slaton Harvey House have an opportunity to experience firsthand one of the lesser known Fred Harvey merchandising successes – the Harvey newsstand. The Slaton newsstand remains intact along the west wall of the area that was once the Harvey lunch room. In […]

We are grateful for Rosa Latimer’s support of the Slaton Harvey House by serving on it’s board and providing wonderful ideas, offering illuminating stories for your reading pleasure. (Such as below) and, coming soon, having her delightful play “The Harvey Girls” acted out in our own Harvey House. Here’s Rosa: The year: 1913. The place: […]

By Rosa Walston Latimer Rose Heilers sat on the window sill of her second floor bedroom of the Harvey House in Slaton, Texas. She leaned against the glass so she could see further down the railroad track below. Since meeting Bill Farschon, a railroad man, a few months ago this is how she has spent […]

By Jessica Kelly As a child, bouncing along in our family’s VW van, I always looked forward to the times we passed a train. I loved joining in as all seven of us broke out in the same tune, gleefully singing about the “little red caboose behind the train, train, train, train.” My generation saw […]

By Rosa Walston Latimer In almost every discussion about Harvey Houses, the question is asked: “Wonder how many are still standing?” When Fred Harvey died in 1901 (at the age of sixty-five) he owned and operated fifteen hotels, forty-seven restaurants, thirty dining cars and a San Francisco Bay ferry. I haven’t found a definitive list […]