The Harvey Girls

 In 1863 George Pullman introduced the first dining car for passengers on the railroad.  In a few years, however, Pullman withdrew from the restaurant business, citing unprofitability.  It seems that the dining car was originally a problem for the American railroad and Pullman's absence only made the problem worse...let's backtrack just a bit.

The popular way of eating in route remained at station restaurants or lunch counters.  Fred Harvey started a chain in 1876 to serve the western railroads and his "Harvey Girls" became famous all along the railroad route - with their curious motto "Slice the ham thinner."

The quick service and herd mentality of these restaurants did one thing - it made all passengers equal.  All passengers had only a short time to eat, silverware was scarce with only one knife and one fork allowed to each passenger (non-replaceable if dropped).  All paid $1.00 per person per meal to be eaten in 10-15 minutes.  Haste and crowds waited for no man...

The dining car as a stand alone service did not find widespread use until the late 19th century.  It was originally designed simply to keep passengers happy during long journeys by rail.  Pullman, however, saw his vision far beyond that and an empire was born.  Next time...

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 19, 1814, crowds fill the Holliday Street Theater in Baltimore, to hear the debut of the 'Star Spangled Banner.'  Francis Scott Key, a lawyer focusing on slavery cases, wrote it while trapped on a British ship amid the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.  Of course the song would go on to become our national anthem."

The Quick Lunch

Rail travel in the days before dining cars, did not allow meals or upper class dining on board.  The "quick lunch" was the acceptable way Americans were fed.  The train would stop at stations  (like the B & O station on the right) and passengers were given 15-20 minutes to consume food.  The cuisine consisted of pies, patties, cakes, hard-boiled eggs, hams, and custard along with other quick food (fast food for us!).  Once the bell for departure was rung, passengers had to be onboard and seated or left behind.

The "lunch counter," a part of American culture with its quick service and uncomfortable seating (to discourage lingering over a meal) was a by-product of the railroad's quick lunch.  The first recorded use of "lunch counter" was in the New York Times on June 10, 1857 where they complained how shameful it was to use words like "Refreshment Saloon" to describe places for eating and drinking at railroad stations.

These Refreshment Saloons were long, dismal rooms where 300-400 people would rush in to grab food during a train stop.  Passengers were awaken with the conductor yelling, "Fifteen for breakfast" with no time to wash up, and no facilities to do so in.  There was just enough time to get food, eat it and get back before the train departed again.  There were few comfortable meals or washing facilities to be found along the railroad routes in America.  

In 1863 one man had a vision to change dining on trains in America...next time.

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 15, 1863, the U.S Hunley, the first successful combat submarine, sinks during a test run killing its inventor and seven crew members.  The 40-foot submarine was developed from a cylinder boiler by Horace Lawson Hunley and operated with a crew of eight.  The final test was in Charleston Harbor in front of spectators where Hunley and his entire crew perished."

Close Train Quarters

Every early passenger car was divided in several separate compartments which held between six to eight people. (see photo on right) Here passengers were confined for the journey.  This traditional and conservative design resembled the horse drawn carriage and in fact, the earliest cars were made by simply putting together on one frame several old-fashioned carriage bodies.  The car was then about three times the length of a horse drawn carriage, but entrances were on the side of the car rather than at the end.

Railway technology soon adopted a new design with long box-like cars, entered from the ends without dividing compartments.  In Europe only the third-class cars kept the early America style of divided compartments.  American passengers, with their open interiors, felt comfortable and often took off their shoes and coats to make themselves at home.  They ate, drank and conversed with fellow passengers.

Europeans were embarrassed by America's passenger cars - calling us pushy and prone to be in everyone's business.  Long distance rides to the West lacked privacy, for sure, and all classes rode together for days.  Some upper class citizens were not happy "traveling with 30-40 human beings boxed up together for seven days and nights, crammed close to each other all day, sleeping on shelves at night in an atmosphere most despicable." 

All passengers went to bed and arose at the same time as the beds had to go up and down at the same time.  The bathroom offer little privacy at the entrance to the car, with neither an inside nor outside lock. Some trains did offer a morning paper for all, such as the Great Pacific Line Gazette which was actually printed on board the train.  

It was believed Americans were too restless to care about privacy.  The design allowed them to wander from car to car, despite safety warnings, to mingle with other passengers all the way to the last car where they said view was worth the risk.  The only thing missing from the earlier rail cars was food...

Next time...Dining Cars

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 12, 1810, Oktoberfest began with the marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Louis to Princess Therese von Sachsen Hildburghausen.  Their wedding festival was so popular it became a yearly event that morphed into Oktoberfest. Each year 1 million gallons of beer are consumed in their honor."

Riding with Class Distinction

The American opportunity to travel was a good equalizer in the early days.  The transportation systems, like rail, tended to not only reduce the difference between cities but between classes as well.  In America, the "common people" traveled more and steam locomotion confined people more closely for longer periods of time, erasing distinctions of class.  In the desire to arrive some place quickly, passengers ignored the social distinctions of other places - usually.  

The aristocratic Philadelphian, Samuel Breck, on a journey from Boston to Rhode Island on a hot summer's day in July of 1835, recorded his views on being confined with those of a lesser class as he saw it..."Two poor fellows squeezed me into a corner while the hot sun drew from their garments a villainous odor of salt, fish, tar and molasses."  Can't you just see his pursed lips and nose lifted up??

There were no first class and second class cars in America like there were in Europe in the early days of rail, although there were sometimes (especially in the South) separate cars for men and women, and blacks and whites.  The men's car was the smoking car where men could smoke, chew and spit without the women complaining.  These special cars were seen as wasteful, eventually however, and gradually discontinued. 

Until then it was seen as proper for a lady to be in select company while traveling, to dine with her peers and not be subjected to the lesser things of society.  To do otherwise, one man said, was to reduce her gentility.  For a "master" and his slave to share the same table on the train was just "uncomfortable" as one man put it.  The old-fashioned way, even if it took longer to reach one's destination was preferable where a man could be "master of one's movements."  It was believed that that old-fashioned way would be the way of future generations again...first class air travel??

Next time...Class by design

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 8, 1871, flames sparked in the Chicago barn of Charles and Catherine O'Leary, igniting a two day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100.000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million ($4 billion today) in damages.  The fire is known as the Great Chicago Fire."

Building for the Future - or Not

 American technology was a for a land of the future, but Americans seldom thought they were building for that future.  They viewed technology in present-tense.  The British were the ones who build for the future, but not Americans.  They built for the present.

Americans were too worried about making a little capital go a long way - both monetarily and in regards to distance.  There was little thought to durability.  It was about how to get there as fast as possible rather than building for their grandchildren.  It was better to extend the system of railroads as far as possible at once and be satisfied with that initial construction, than to postpone the benefits of better quality in the future.

Building rapidly and in a flimsy way, were uniquely American practices.  Americans refused to be "beholden" to the future.  The techniques of railroad building would change they knew, just as everything in America changed.  These railroads were not the final improvement in rail travel.  

In the years to come, travel would indeed change most radically, from horses and the "iron horse" to the personal automobile.  Finally travel would take to the skies, making railroads almost obsolete in a 100 years.  Until then traveling by rail developed a society all its own...

Next time...the "class system" of the passenger rails

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 5, 1892, the notorious Dalton Gang attempts a daring daylight robbery of two Coffeyville, Kansas banks at the same time.  After nearly 18 months of terrorizing the town, nearly all of the gang were killed by the quick-thinking townspeople. In the end, four townspeople were dead and only Emmett Dalton was left of the infamous Dalton Gang.