Belen Harvey House Museum

Taking the train across the wild west from 1817-1917 was quite an adventure, and worst of all, you were on your own for food. You packed a picnic and it had better last. Trains actually stopped in small towns for meals, and some shifty restaurants took your money, then just waited for the train to leave -- your empty stomach on it. To compete with other railway lines, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) "branded" their railway with Harvey Houses -- regularly scheduled stops where you could order a full meal in a civilized setting. After a drunken fight put his black stewards out of business for the day, Harvey started hiring girls. Waitressing wasn't respectable on the East Coast, but Fred Harvey opened dormitories, hired chaperons, demanded strict manners and brought pride to the profession. Working at the Harvey House gave girls a chance to travel in a chaperoned manner -- they signed six month contracts, were given a free trip home every year, and could transfer between the Harvey Houses, 87 different locations at their peak. The supply chain was very impressive: uniforms were shipped to Newton, Kansas to be laundered, ice was shipped from northern climes to every Harvey House.

An unintended consequence of importing adventurous east-coast girls to male dominated towns of the wild west was that the girls married local cowboys, settled down and brought the Harvey manners to the next generation -- from "Gold Rush" to small town America in one generation. And then the next train brought in a fresh new crop of Harvey Girls.

The Belen Harvey House contains a small museum (the menu is really impressive!) and the model train club. I would watch "Harvey Girls" first, the 1946 musical with Judy Garland and the memorable "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe train song". The movie is good for age 5 and up -- there's a scary fire and threatened gunfight and some rather tame "women of ill repute" (a young Angela Lansbury). The museum is good for about 20 minutes, trains go by, and then the model railroad is fun.

Open 12:30-3:30PM T-S, (575?) 861-0581



Belen is a 45 minute drive from Socoro