Less-famous Chautauqua personality tells story of food empire

~ Fred Harvey's business empire was a forerunner of fast-rood chains.

Unlike the names of Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington Carver and even John James Audubon, it's probable that most students today haven't heard of Fred Harvey or his Harvey Girls.

Oran, Mo., siblings Christina and John Fox, 17 and 14, and their 14-year-old Cape Girardeau cousin, Peter Ansberry, hadn't before Chautauqua came to the area.

The teenagers had already seen several nights of the Chautauqua scholars impersonating historical figures.

"I had to read the Chautauqua booklet to know anything about him," Christina said shortly before Dr. William Worley took the stage as Harvey at Chautauqua Friday night.

Chautauqua is the Missouri Humanities Council's traveling history festival held this week outside the Osage Community Centre.

But as her brother John observed, that was the reason why they were at Chautauqua -- to learn. As they listened, they heard a story of a man who built a food service empire in the age of rail transportation -- a forerunner of today's fast-food chains that sprout up along interstates across the country.

Under the Chautauqua tent Friday night, Worley used a Harvey Girl training session as the vehicle to tell the story of the rise of that food service empire to a crowd of about 200.

Harvey is known for establishing lunchrooms and restaurants along western rail lines starting in the mid-1870s. He did so with a commitment of offering fast, efficient service and a pleasant dining experience to the rail-weary customers he referred to as "the traveling public."

Worley, acting as Harvey in the late 1890s, said his days of traveling the rails as a young man helped inspire his creation.

"I had a lot of experience eating, or should I say I had a lot of experience with indigestion, in those days traveling the western railroads," the character Harvey said.

The "greasy spoons and hash joints" he was forced to eat at -- which he alluded to as vomit factories -- inspired him to create a better experience.

"There had to be a way to make a dining experience out of travel," Worley said.

Harvey created that experience, entering business deals with railroads to provide eateries at intervals along their rail lines. He staffed the establishments with Harvey Girls.

"You will be attractive, yes. Intelligent, of course. Of good character, that goes without saying. And you'll be between the ages of 18 and 30. I believe that applies to every woman here," Worley joked of his Harvey Girl requirements to a crowd of mostly middle-aged and elderly people.

Those girls would serve train passengers a four-course meal for a price of 75 cents.

And he explained his plans to create a "grand hotel" at the Grand Canyon -- an establishment that would allow visitors to stay and enjoy the beauty of one of America's great wonders.

A form of his establishment, The El Tovar, still operates there today -- another legacy of the Harvey commitment to bringing luxury to the American West.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Today

Paxton Williams as George Washington Carver with music by Vintage Strings. Music at 7 p.m., speaker at 7:45 p.m.

Sunday

3 p.m.: KRCU's "Going Public" will air a panel discussion with the Chautauqua performers, hosted by Tom Harte