At various times in its history, Fred Harvey owned or managed dozens of hotels and restaurants, many of which were a part of or immediately adjacent to Santa Fe train stations. It probably issued postcards advertising all of them, but here are just a few. As with yesterday’s cards, these are generally presented from east to west.
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The first postcard shows artist James Edgar Miller (1899-1993) painting murals in the Fred Harvey restaurant at Dearborn Station, the station Santa Fe used in Chicago. Born in Idaho Falls, Miller studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Once described as “the most versatile artist in America,” he was comfortable with sculpting, painting, carving linoleum, stained glass, and of course murals. He did this restaurant in 1950 so the postcard must date from around that year.
Click image to download a 227-KB PDF of this postcard.
The Bisonte Hotel, on Santa Fe’s main line in Hutchinson, Kansas, got its name from a large buffalo head mounted in the lobby. Though the hotel was built in 1908, this postcard appears to be from the same era as the previous one, so I’ll date it about 1950. The hotel was demolished in 1965.
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With 120 guest rooms, the Alvarado was Fred Harvey’s largest hotel. Opened in 1902, it stood next to Santa Fe’s Albuquerque train station. In one of the great architectural tragedies of the Southwest, it was demolished in 1970. Although the front of this card looks old, with an image that only covers about half the card, from the back it is also from about 1950.
Click image to download a 191-KB PDF of this postcard.
The La Fonda Hotel, in Santa Fe, has happily survived. We’ve previously seen a postcard featuring the La Fonda that was not issued by Fred Harvey or the Santa Fe Railway. This one is a Fred Harvey postcard and, from the back, also dates from around 1950s.
Click image to download a 252-KB PDF of this postcard.
The Frey Marcos was a somewhat undistinguished hotel in Williams, Arizona, which is where Santa Fe’s Grand Canyon line branched off of its main line. It opened in 1908 with just 22 rooms, and 21 more were added in 1925. The building still exists but serves as offices and a gift shop for the Grand Canyon Railway.
Click image to download a 170-KB PDF of this postcard.
This postcard is based on the same black-and-white photo as the previous one but the colorist tried to make it look like a sunset. Curiously, both cards have the same ID number, H-1891. Both also appear to be from the post-war era so I’ll date them to 1950.
Click image to download a 191-KB PDF of this postcard.
Finally we have Fred Harvey’s restaurant at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. The restaurant opened along with the rest of the terminal in 1909. It closed in 1967 and sat empty for many years. It was fully restored in 2017 and now is open as a brew pub. Based on the back, I’m dating this card to around 1950 but that could be plus or minus several years.