Miss Sally was pleased with her new outfit. She dressed up as a Harvey House waitress for the 120th celebration at the Historic Wolf Hotel, proudly wearing starched black and white as did the women who helped develop tourism in the prairie and southwest.
In the late 1800s, when women rarely worked outside the home, Harvey House restaurants served travelers on the Santa Fe Railroad line.
Women who worked as a Harvey Girls had to be of good character, and Fred Harvey, the originator of the Harvey House Restaurants, was the first to hire women as waitresses. The first Harvey House Restaurant was in Kansas.
Harvey chose women of good virtue and who had educations, which means they had completed as least the eighth grade.
Harvey Girls worked hard, two to three meal shifts a day. They made $17 per month, about half of what a cowboy made. Over the years, 100,000 women worked for Harvey.
While they were originally road house restaurants, they eventually began using them in railroad cars. Only a few Harvey House Restaurants still exist today.
The Harvey Girls celebrate the grandeur of times gone by, when life was slower and when the railroad played a significant role in the development of Ellinwood. The Harvey Girls also celebrate a time of empowerment for women.
Ellinwood was started by John Ellinwood, a civil engineer working for the Santa Fe Railroad, which passed through Ellinwood.
The Historic Wolf Hotel provided a place to eat and rest for those travel weary pioneers and today, is operating in the same capacity.

Miss Sally is the mannequin at the Historic Wolf Hotel in Ellinwood.