In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, trains stopped about every 100 miles for water and maintenance. Passengers had roughly 30 minutes to disembark, stretch their legs, and find whatever food was available—often limited and unappealing. Beginning in 1876, Fred Harvey addressed this problem by partnering with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to create a network of Harvey Houses: clean, dependable, luxury hotels and dining rooms that brought hospitality to remote rail stops across the Southwest (the first formal Harvey House opened in 1878 in Florence, Kansas).

After World War II, diesel-powered engines, which no longer required frequent service stops, began to replace steam locomotives. Combined with the postwar growth of interstate highways and airline travel, this shift led to the gradual decline of the Harvey House system. Thankfully, many of these elegant buildings were preserved and now house museums, hotels, theaters, and other businesses attuned to preservation and gracious living. Most Harvey Houses closed by the mid-1960s, with Casa del Desierto in Barstow among the last. The Fred Harvey Company was sold in 1968, ending an era of hospitality along the rails