Fred Harvey (entrepreneur)
| Frederick Henry Harvey | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
June 27, 1835 London, England |
| Died | February 9, 1901 (aged 65) Leavenworth, Kansas |
Frederick Henry Harvey (June 27, 1835 – February 9, 1901) was an entrepreneur who developed the Harvey House lunch rooms, restaurants, souvenir shops, and hotels, which served rail passengers on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the Gulf Coast and Santa Fe Railway, the Kansas Pacific Railway, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
As an innovative restaurateur and marketer, Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the United States. He was also a leader in promoting tourism in the American Southwest in the late 19th century. Fred Harvey and his employees successfully brought new higher standards of both civility and dining to a region widely regarded in the era as "the Wild West." He created a legacy which was continued by his sons and remained in the family until the death of a grandson in 1965.
Despite the decline of passenger train patronage in the United States in the 20th century with the advent of the automobile, portions of the Fred Harvey Company have continued to operate since 1968 as part of a larger hospitality industry conglomerate.
Fred Harvey was born to mixed Scottish and English parents, and immigrated into the United States from Liverpool, England in 1853 at the age of 17. He took a job in New York as a pot scrubber and busboy at Smith and McNell's restaurant, a popular New York city restaurant. There he learned the business from the establishment's quirky proprietors, Henry Smith and T. R. McNell. They taught him the importance of quality service, fresh ingredients and the handshake deal. Harvey quickly worked his way up to busboy, waiter and line cook. This early entry into the world of food service would have large impacts later in his life. He moved from New York City to New Orleans after 18 months and survived a bout with yellow fever and then to St. Louis where he worked in a jewelry store. In 1856 he married Barbara Sarah Mattas, with whom he would have a total of six children.
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