The Four Corners Area - American Southwest - page 98

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Fred Harvey & His Girls

Unless you grew up in the Southwest and can remember back to pre-World
War II days, you may have never heard of Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls. But
if you spend much time in northern Arizona, you're likely to run into quite a few
references to the Harvey Girls and their boss.
Fred Harvey was the Southwest's most famous mogul of railroad hospitality
and was an early promoter of tourism in the Grand Canyon State. Harvey, who
was working for a railroad in the years shortly after the Civil War, developed a
distaste for the food served at railroad stations. He decided he could do a bet-
ter job and in 1876 opened his first Harvey House railway-station restaurant for
the Santa Fe Railroad. By the time of his death in 1901, Harvey operated 47
restaurants, 30 diners, and 15 hotels across the West.
The women who worked as waitresses in the Harvey House restaurants
came to be called Harvey Girls. Known for their distinctive black dresses, white
aprons, and black bow ties, Harvey Girls had to adhere to very strict behavior
codes. In fact, in the late 19th century, they were considered the only real
“ladies” in the West, aside from schoolteachers. So celebrated were they in their
day that in the 1940s, Judy Garland starred in a Technicolor MGM musical
called The Harvey Girls. Garland played a Harvey Girl who battles the evil town
dance-hall queen (played by Angela Lansbury) for the soul of the local saloon-
keeper.

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On the rim of the crater, there's a small museum that features exhibits on astrogeology
and space exploration, as well as a film on meteorites. On display are a 1,400-pound
meteorite and an Apollo space capsule. Throughout the day, there are 1-hour hiking
tours along the rim of the crater.
20 miles west of Winslow (exit 233 off I-40). & 800/289-5898 or 928/289-5898. www.meteorcrater.com.
Admission $15 adults, $13 seniors, $6 children 6-17. Memorial Day to mid-Sept daily 7am-7pm; mid-
Sept to Memorial Day daily 8am-5pm. Closed Christmas.
OTHER AREA ATTRACTIONS
In downtown Winslow, near that famous corner, you'll find the little Old Trails
Museum, 212 Kinsley Ave., at Second Street ( & 928/289-5861; www.oldtrailsmuseum.
org), which is something of a community attic and has exhibits on Route 66 and the
Harvey Girls (who once worked in the nearby La Posada hotel; see the box “Fred Harvey
& His Girls,” above). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to
4pm. Admission is free.
Even if you aren't planning on staying the night at the restored La Posada, 303 E.
Second St. ( & 928/289-4366 ), be sure to stop by just to see this historic railway hotel.
Self-guided tours are available for a $3 donation.
On the windswept plains north of Winslow, 1 1 / 4 miles north of I-40, at exit 257, is
Homolovi Ruins State Park ( & 928/289-4106; www.azstateparks.com), which pre-
serves more than 300 Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites, several of which have been