Page 58 - 2019 Las Vegas & San Miguel Co. Visitors Guide

Rebirth of Railroad Avenue
By Rosa Walston Latimer
More than a century ago, the coming of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Las Vegas brought a burst of activity on Railroad Avenue. Never mind that when it rained or snow melted, the street was mud- dy with deep ruts making it almost impos- sible for horse-drawn wagons to make it from one end to the other. Businesses such as Chinese laundries, barber shops, drug stores, and dressmakers lined the wide street, a major thoroughfare that ran par- allel to the railroad tracks. At a time when young ladies and gentlemen of Las Vegas were enjoying serene hayrides to Romero- ville, there was high energy on Railroad Av- enue. Town folk and ranchers alike found their way to the bustling business district and the street was crowded with horses and carriages as well as horse-drawn streetcars running on tracks laid down in 1881.
The impressive Castañeda, the first Fred Harvey trackside hotel, opened in January of 1899, replacing a small Harvey House, built in 1883. The Santa Fe Railway main- line, connecting Las Vegas to Chicago and Los Angeles, ran directly in front of the lux- urious hotel. Built in the Mission Revival style, the Castañeda was set around a court- yard that opened to the tracks. Construc- tion cost $110,000; furnishings were an ad- ditional $30,000. The new Santa Fe depot, located just south of the Harvey hotel, was built at the same time as the Castañeda.
The Castañeda’s informal lunchroom, steps from the tracks, accommodated over 50 diners and the expansive, formal dining room seated 108. The hotel and restaurants catered to train passengers but were also popular with the locals who often had spe- cial events there. The Castañeda featured the excellent cuisine and service charac- teristic of the Harvey system. Originally
View of Castañeda from Railroad Avenue, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS NM-208
there were thirty-seven guest rooms on the second floor which reached via a sweeping staircase visible from the lobby entrance. A Harvey newsstand in the lobby prominent- ly displayed reading material, tobacco prod- ucts, and souvenirs.
Fred Harvey, who essentially founded the first restaurant chain in the U.S., brought a high standard of food service and hospital- ity to the southwest by establishing restau- rants and hotels along the Santa Fe Railway line. Throughout the system, the Fred Har- vey company hired young women, known as Harvey Girls, who wore crisp black and white uniforms and, following a strict set of rules, cultivated a reputation for efficient service that could feed a trainload of pas- sengers in thirty minutes. Built two years before Mr. Harvey’s death, the Castañe- da was one of the most luxurious, distin- guished hotels in the Fred Harvey system. (Las Vegas, New Mexico is the only location to have two Harvey Houses. In addition to the Castañeda, the Montezuma, a sprawling
Queen Anne-style structure, is located west of Las Vegas at the site of the hot springs. Since 1981 the property has served as the American campus of the United World Col- lege.)
Just six months after the opening of the Castañeda, the hotel was the site of the first Rough Riders reunion. “Rough Rid- ers” is the name given to the First United States Volunteer Cavalry during the Span- ish-American War and more than six hun- dred of the Volunteer Cavalry came to Las Vegas for the reunion. Although Teddy Roosevelt was reported to have camped with his “boys” in Lincoln Park, he was as- signed a room at the Castañeda.
Across Railroad Avenue from the Castañe- da, in 1899, an English immigrant and long- time Las Vegas resident, W. W. Rawlins was completing construction of the Rawlins Building. This brick and stone building was planned to be a fourteen-room hotel for the commercial and traveling public. The Raw- lins Building originally had only one story. A second story was added three years later along with a metal building front stamped with rosettes, fleurs-de-lis and topped with the name, Rawlins. This building front, a product of Mesker Iron Works, a Midwest family-owned company that produced ar- chitectural iron products, distinguished the Rawlins Building in architecturally diverse Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Daily Optic reported that the Rawlins Building bedrooms were fur- nished with “enameled brass and steel bed- steads, the best of springs and mattresses and belongings to the bed itself. The article
Photo Courtesy of Las Vegas Citizens’ Committee for Historic Preservation, LVCCHP, Archives
58 | Las Vegas & San Miguel Co. Visitors Guide 2019