The Depot Centennial Celebration on Friday went like most people would expect. Cake, punch, speeches were all included, but there was something extraordinary about this event. Something was extra special about what happened on Friday and her name was Dorothy Cason.
Mrs. Cason is a former “Harvey Girl” at the famous Harvey House that joins our Depot Civic & Cultural Center. Most people know the Harvey House now as the place that houses the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce office, but in years past, it was a restaurant that served the many passengers riding on the Santa Fe railway.
Mrs. Cason began her career as a “Harvey Girl” in 1940 at the age of 16 and worked there until the end of the war when the Brownwood Harvey House closed. She worked as a waitress and cashier at the restaurant and lived in one of the rooms in the upstairs portion of the building with the other employees.
Mrs. Cason came to the celebration on August 6th and was greeted very much like a celebrity with cameras flashing and video rolling. I am sure she was somewhat overwhelmed, but the 86-year-old resident of Baird took it all in stride with a smile on her face.
I had the honor of helping Mrs. Cason tour the Harvey House on Friday and to learn more about what it looked like and what she did there.
We toured the upstairs area where she showed us the rooms where she used to live. She told of how the men stayed on one side of the building and the women on the other. She started out living in a room with 3 other girls, then moved to another room with a single roommate, and eventually got her own room. She showed us each room where she stayed as if it she had been there yesterday.
We also looked at old photos of the building as she told of her daily routine of serving the customers. To my surprise, she even pointed herself out in a photograph that we have at the Chamber of Commerce office and named several of the people in the photo. She also had fond memories of visiting the many movie theatres in downtown Brownwood during those days including the Lyric & Bowie.
Although Mrs. Cason looks back at her days of being a “Harvey Girl” with fond memories, she said that it was a sad time as well. Being during World War II, she said that she saw many men say goodbye to their families before leaving for the service by train. She said that she knew that many of those men didn’t make it back.
One very fun story that she shared was from when they got word the war was over. Mrs. Cason went downtown and she said everyone was celebrating, blowing horns, and shouting. She recalls that on that day she had laryngitis and couldn’t shout or yell like she wanted to do.
I have the honor of working inside of the Harvey House building as the Chamber’s Marketing Manager and it was a special treat for me personally to talk to Mrs. Cason and get new insight of her days as a ”Harvey Girl”. She did enlighten me that my office is where part of the kitchen was where they picked up food to carry out to the customers.
Talking to Mrs. Cason was a special joy for me, and it will be a memory I will carry with me for a lifetime. As I work daily at my office, I will remember that Dorothy Jean Walker Cason served food and smiles some 70 years ago right under my feet.
-Ray Tipton
Top Photo: Dorothy Cason standing in front of the first room she stayed in at the Harvey House.
Right Photo: Dorothy Cason and Ray Tipton look at some old photos of the interior of the Harvey House.
Bottom Photo: Dorothy Cason identifies some former co-workers and herself in a photo taken at the Harvey House in 1941.
Video: Dorothy Cason tells a few stories of her time at the Harvey House during WWII.
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