The Painted Desert Inn, located in the Petrified Forest National Monument (now a national park), is another example of Fred Harvey moving away from its roots serving rail travelers and towards serving auto travelers. The inn was located close to Highway 66 and is now about 3.5 miles from an exit on Interstate 40. The entire park is gorgeous but the inn itself is particularly fascinating.

Click image to download a 578-KB PDF of this menu.

The inn was built on the site of a previous stop known as Stone Tree House. In 1936, the owner sold it to the Park Service whose architect, Lyle Bennett, designed a Pueblo Revival style building to replace it. The Inn included a snack bar and some cabins for lodging.

After being closed during the war, Fred Harvey gained the concession to operate the inn in 1947. Mary Colter redesigned the interior of the building and hired Hopi artist Fred Kabotie to paint murals in the dining room walls. As this menu points out, the Painted Desert Inn was “one of the smallest, yet, in its enchanting seclusion, one of the most charming” facilities in the Fred Harvey chain.

Click image to download a 320-KB PDF of this Fred Harvey postcard.

Strangely, the cover photo on this menu is attributed to “Publix Inc.” Publix is the name of the largest supermarket chain in Florida, one that has expanded to several other southeastern states but not to Arizona, either today or in the 1950s. The supermarket took its name from a chain of movie theaters, but they were out of business by 1950. So I have no idea what photographer this might refer to.