I was in Leavenworth, KS this week, where I spoke at the Leavenworth County Historical Society and got a chance to tour the Fred Harvey Museum (still under construction in Fred’s Olive Street mansion, but coming along) and the lovingly restored home across the street built for his daughter Sybil.

In between events, a group of us decided to visit Fred’s original house in Leavenworth, the one where he and his growing family lived from approximately 1869 until 1884. This is where he and his wife, Sally, raised their children and where he developed from a successful traveling freight agent into a restaurant magnate and household name (after which the Harveys bought the Olive Street, where he lived only part of the year because he spent so much time in England for his health.)

That original four-bedroom house is at 1318 S. 2nd Street, the corner of 2nd and Linn, a block from the train tracks and the river.

While the later Harvey mansion has all kinds of lovely plaques and historical landmarkers out front, Fred’s original home has quite different signage–a white notice pasted to the left of the padlocked front door proclaiming that the building is not fit for human habitation and has been condemned, so “Do Not Enter.” Below you’ll find some photos of its current sad condition.

No idea what happened to it or what, if anything, should/could be done (certainly nobody would be in favor of even a penny going to preserve this building instead of more funding for the Fred Harvey Museum project.) Still, it was a pretty depressing during an otherwise magical visit to Fred’s hometown.

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