In an effort to promote travel and tourism in the Southwest, the Santa Fe Railway contracted with the Fred Harvey Company to supply Harvey House dining services along its routes at principal watering stops. English immigrant Fred Harvey (1835–1901), who had a railroad and restaurant background, made an oral agreement in 1876 with Charlie Morse, superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, to “bring good food at reasonable prices in clean, elegant restaurants, to the traveling public throughout the Southwest.” The partnership ultimately built eight-four restaurants in Santa Fe depots, twenty-seven in Texas. The restaurants were staffed with resident managers and waitresses, the Harvey Girls (immortalized in the 1946 MGM musical of the same name starring Judy Garland), who lived in a private dormitory above. Recognizing that proper personnel were as important as the quality of food and drink, Fred Harvey recruited young women from beyond the immediate community to serve as waitresses. Some of the larger depots, such as that in Amarillo, included hotels. The Harvey House was frequently a local social center as well, often providing quality meals not otherwise available in town. In addition to the restaurants, souvenir shops, newsstands, and hotels on the Santa Fe lines, the Fred Harvey Company served passengers on the Kansas Pacific Railway, the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, and the Terminal Railroad of St. Louis. Harvey operations in Texas were closed by 1933, as the Great Depression and increased automobile travel slowed railroad passenger service. The Fred Harvey Company continued independently in the hospitality business until 1965.—YOLITA SCHMIDT