The Arizona capital also had an exhibit on Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls that we found extremely interesting. The only problem is that we never figured out what Fred Harvey had to do with Arizona, except that he was involved with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad that came to Arizona.Fred Harvey was a failed restaurant owner from St. Louis who convinced the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe that good food was the key to attracting passengers to travel on the railroad. In return for providing quality eating houses along the routes, the railroad provided Harvey's restaurants with free coal, free freight for food and employees and anything else his establishments needed. To deliver on his promises, Harvey created the waitresses that became the symbol of quality for the next century, "The Harvey Girls".
To be a Harvey Girl you had to be good looking, slim and between 18 & 30 years old. You also had to sign a contract for a year and agree not to date any customers or get married. One of the things they were most famous for was their system wide "cup code" which delivered quick service. When a customer was seated by a Harvey Girl a beverage order was taken and the cup was adjusted to show what had been ordered. A waitress follwed and could tell what beverage to serve by the position of the cup.
Well I guess you can tell we were impressed by the whole story. I can remember as a boy eating at Fred Harvey restaurants in St. Louis and Kansas City. They were excellent family restaurants.
