Fred Harvey Farm

Posted on by hchm-curator

May is Historic Preservation Month! Our focus this month is the stories of of the people behind the buildings.  The demolition of the Fred Harvey Building on West First reminded me of my own family’s connection to the building – my great uncle was one of the many people from the Newton community that spent his working life in that building.

“Building to the left: Fred Harvey Produce and Carbonating Plant. Open area between the two buildings once contained the warehouse and refrigeration plant. Building to the right (south): Fred Harvey Dairy. – Mike Hurley.”

The Fred Harvey Building – North

Thanks to the meticulous research of L.M. ‘Mike’ Hurley, we know details that otherwise may have been lost about the operations of the Fred Harvey Farm.  In 1905, Fred Harvey moved his operations from Kansas City, Mo. to the east bank of Sand Creek, Newton, Ks. The three story building, known as the north building, was built in 1918. The whole area was the Fred Harvey Farm, complete with a dairy, poultry, produce and processing plants, provided food for the Fred Harvey restaurants and dining on the Santa Fe cars.

North Building, built in 1918. Photo taken in 1922.

Hurley described the layout of the north building. The third floor housed the poultry.  The many windows allowed for ventilation and sunshine.

3rd floor Interior, 1922

According to Hurley, the first floor was used only for killing the poultry with the only entrance on the west.

The second floor of the building was divided into two sections. The north section dealt with the processing of the poultry and divided into offices on the north and the south, where the poultry was dressed and chilled before packing.

“Inside Fred Harvey Produce Building, Newton, Kansas. John Howard, buyer for Fred Harvey, inspecting and grading a rack of fowl in the chill room. Santa Fe Magazine. September 1954.”

Fred Harvey Coca-Cola

The south section of the second floor contained the carbonating plant, both the offices and the bottling, for the Fred Harvey brand of cola, root beer, club soda, ginger ale and fruit-flavored soft drinks.  In 1914, the Coca-Cola Company allowed Fred Harvey to bottle Coca-Cola. Newton, Ks was on of the few  places where Coca-Cola was bottled  under a franchised issued by the company.

Fred Harvey Coca-Cola bottled in Newton, Ks.

The Coke bottled at the Fred Harvey carbonating plant held high standards. Coca-Cola ran ran tests every six months to insure that standards were maintained.  Everything produced at the Fred Harvey Farm was served exclusively at Fred Harvey dining facilities, news stands and aboard Santa Fe dining cars.

“Inside Carbonating Plant,”  Santa Fe Magazine, September 1954.

My great Uncle Ted Reimer worked for many years for Fred Harvey Enterprises in the carbonating plant.   In 1954, he was the assistant manager, and pictured above on the right.  Warren Boese  is on the left. By the time, I got to know Uncle Ted, he was retired and all about fishing and teaching the great nieces and nephews to play pool.  One thing was clear though, he had a sense of pride for his work for Fred Harvey Enterprises.

He was one of many who worked to insure that excellence was associated with the Fred Harvey name.

The Fred Harvey Farm was discontinued in 1960. Grover C. ‘Tex’ Owen was the last manager in charge of the farm.

Source

  • Hurley, L.M. ‘Mike’. Newton, Kansas #1 Santa Fe Rail Hub 1871-1971. North Newton: Mennonite Press, 1985. Pages 137-139 specifically describe the Fred Harvey Farm. Information about the physical layout of the interior of the building is possible because of Mike’s research.

 

 

Fred Harvey, Coca-Cola and Newton,Ks

Posted on by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

Today, the large  building just east of Sand Creek on west  First stands mostly empty, a reminder of a thriving business that revolutionized food service for the traveling public. At one time, the Historic Fred Harvey Building was an important cog in the Fred Harvey System providing fresh food for passengers and diners throughout the western part of the country. From the beginning Fred Harvey was concerned about providing quality food and drink to his customers.He insisted on fresh food and friendly, efficient service at each of his establishments. The Fred Harvey Farm provided the fresh food and drink for many restaurants in the system.

In about 1905, the Fred Harvey Company moved facilities from Kansas City, MO to Newton, KS to a location on west First near Sand Creek establishing the “Fred Harvey Farm.”

Fred Harvey Farm Complex. 525 E. First, March 1938. (lt-rt): Dairy Building, Warehouse Building with refrigeration plant on west ent and cooling tower at back; Produce Building with carbonation and poultry departments. Foreground "Mexican Section House No. 116.

Fred Harvey Farm Complex. 525 E. First, March 1938. (lt-rt): Dairy Building, Warehouse Building with refrigeration plant on west ent and cooling tower at back; Produce Building with carbonation and poultry departments. Foreground: Mexican Section House No. 116. Mike Hurley Collection.

The Fred Harvey Farm

The large three story structure that housed the produce and carbonating plant was built in 1918. Facilities to process poultry was located on the first floor and the north side of the second floor. The carbonating and bottling plant was located on the south side of the second floor.

 

Fred Harvey Produce. East side of the poultry and carbonating plant. The men on the dock are hauling wooden cases of bottled pop. Mike Hurley Collection.

Fred Harvey Produce. East side of the poultry and carbonating plant. The men on the dock are hauling wooden cases of bottled pop. Mike Hurley Collection.

An Outsourcing Pioneer

At about the same time another business pioneer was developing another product.  In 1891, Asa Candler, an Atlanta pharmacist, purchased the formula for a new drink, Coca-Cola.   Candler took advantage of Atlanta’s position as a transportation hub by shipping only the syrup across the South.  By shipping only the syrup, and not the finished product, he was able to keep costs down. The company began selling bottling franchises in 1899 and in doing so, avoided the additional costs of a physical structure that bottled the product.  They also side-stepped the challenge of finding the product’s main ingredient – clean water.

In 1914 the two pioneering companies joined together when Coca-Cola issued a franchise to the Fred Harvey Co. to bottle Coca-Cola at the Newton facility.

 Inside the Carbonating Plant

In Newton, a pipe from the Santa Fe stock yards supplied the water for the carbonating plant.  The plant bottled Fred Harvey brand Coca-Cola, root beer, club soda, and ginger ale.  Fruit-flavored soft drinks were also bottled using pure fruit juice rather than imitation flavorings.

As was the case in all other aspects of the Fred Harvey system, quality was stressed.  Coca-Cola ran lab tests every six months to make sure that the end product was meeting their standards. A State Health Inspector would often pull a bottle at random from various cases ready to be shipped to test.

Fred Harvey Coca-Cola Bottle

The soft drinks from the Fred Harvey Farm in Newton were sold exclusively in Fred Harvey dining facilities, newsstands and on Santa Fe passenger cars.

Shipping

1918 was a peak year for Fred Harvey operations with fifty-four lunch rooms, thirty-seven dining rooms and twenty-six hotels in an area that included Chicago, California and Texas. During this time, the Fred Harvey Farm in Harvey County covered 500 acres and employed 150 people. In 1921, 60,000 gallons of milk, 20,000 gallons for cream, half a million pounds of poultry, a half a million dozens of eggs and 45,000 cases of soda were shipped.

 

 

The Fred Harvey Farm ceased to operate in 1960.

Fred Harvey Farm Property, 1984. Building to the left (north): Fred Harvey Produce and Carbonating Plant. Building to the right (south): Fred Harvey Dairy. Mike Hurley Collection.

Fred Harvey Farm Property, 1984. Building to the left (north): Fred Harvey Produce and Carbonating Plant. Building to the right (south): Fred Harvey Dairy. Mike Hurley Collection.

Note: Fred Harvey died in 1901, but the Fred Harvey Co continued under the direction of his children.  For more information on Fred Harvey see:  http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/fred-harvey/15507.

Sources:

  • L.Mike Hurley Collection, Photo Archives HCHM.
  • Hurley, L.M. “Mike”.  Newton, Kansas #1 Santa Fe Rail Hub 1871-1971. North Newton, KS: Mennonite Press, 1985.
  • Levinson, Marc.  “Red and White All Over”, 22 October 2014 Wall Street Journal – Book Review of Citizen Coke by Bartow J. Elmore.