The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached the Grand Canyon’s South Rim in 1901, and the wealthier tourists it brought quickly outgrew the rough tents and cabins that had served visitors since 1883. The railway partnered with the Fred Harvey Company, already famous for its chain of Harvey House restaurants and hotels along the rail line, to build something grander.
Architect Charles Whittlesey designed a hotel meant to evoke both a Swiss chalet and a Norwegian villa, built from Kaibab limestone and Oregon Douglas fir at a cost of roughly $250,000. When El Tovar opened January 14, 1905, twenty feet from the canyon’s edge, it had electric lights powered by its own steam generator and water hauled in by train from 120 miles away. Fred Harvey staffed his hotels with young women known as Harvey Girls, recruited nationwide for their character and manners. Theodore Roosevelt stayed there in 1911.