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FRISCO DEPOT MUSEUM
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COMING SOON - UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
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Although they were pretty too, they were real and they endured into the 20th century as well as into legend. Actually they had to play down their beauty, but it must have shown through because they have been romanticized in prose, poetry and even a movie — and always as beautiful women.
Certainly those young ladies must have had a strong spirit of adventure to come out to work in the wild and woolly West of the late 19th century. But come out they did, by the thousands. One estimate is that more than 20,000 young women from places like Kansas City, Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia became Harvey Girls and went west to seek their fortunes. The reason there were so many was that there was such a high turnover — and the reason for the high turnover was that so many of them quit to marry miners, ranchers, men from all walks of life. They founded the West’s first families.
Recruiting advertisements in Eastern newspapers called for “Young women of good character, attractive and intelligent, 18 to 30.” No experience was required. A special training corps of Harvey employees taught the girls personal grooming and drilled them to perfection on how to set a table and serve food with a touch of elegance.
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