WAYNOKA—Cheyanne Pierce is embracing Waynoka’s history.
The restaurateur whose grandparents grew up in Waynoka partnered with her mother, Sandra Pierce, to reopen the town’s historic Harvey House dining room in April 2025 to feed locals and travelers alike.
Aptly named The Station Restaurant, this Northwest Oklahoma business operates in the very same space next to Waynoka’s train platform that the late Fred Harvey made famous right after Oklahoma Territory became a state.
Armed with a dream and $10 upon his arrival in America from England in 1850, Harvey tried his hand as a restaurateur but soon failed in his initial efforts.
He took a job with Burlington Northern Railroad, ascending to the position of general western agent after 15 years. During that time, he quickly discovered the food along the rails to be consistently inconsistent, and at times, even vile.
He saw this as his opportunity to re-enter the restaurant business.
Harvey proposed to Burlington’s management that a network of eating houses, where passengers could count on a good meal, would increase ridership. They said no.
He then approached the Santa Fe Railroad. They agreed to a trial run, and Harvey’s first restaurant in Topeka, Kan., was a success in 1876.
On a handshake, Harvey began opening restaurants and hotels along the Santa Fe line. He provided the staff and the food system, and the railroad provided the food, supplies, and transportation. Harvey received all the profits.
More than 100,000 women signed up to be Harvey Girls in one of the 83 Harvey Houses that were placed about every 200 miles along the Santa Fe rail line or on one of 40 Santa Fe dining cars that served fresh food to railroad passengers both day and night.
Waynoka’s Harvey House, which actually opened nine years after Harvey’s death, operated from 1910 and 1937 under the direction of his sons, catering to passengers on Santa Fe Railroad’s main rail line from Chicago to Los Angeles.
On the main floor of Waynoka’s Harvey House, which is butted against the still-active train tracks, was the dining room where passengers disembarking the train could enter and immediately be fed after a long ride.
According to Charlene Bixler, who is the current curator of the Waynoka Air and Rail Museum on the second floor of the Harvey House, it’s this efficiency of the Harvey House that was the chief appeal for Santa Fe travelers:
- There was a telegraph or radio in the kitchen that would alert dining staff the train was 30 minutes out with the menu desires of passengers.
- A staff member would man a gong on the platform and ring it to indicate the train arrival was imminent.
- Food prep was begun when the train was in sight, so by the time the train pulled into the station and the hungry passengers disembarked, they were greeted, escorted, and served their meal by a Harvey Girl.
Serving up the legacy
While Cheyanne doesn’t hold the title of a Harvey Girl, she carries the aura of one. She grew up in the restaurant business, starting as a dishwasher at 12 years old and has worked in every position with her last one being at Freedom’s Chop House. Her focus is to greet and serve patrons in the dining room while her mother works behind the scenes in the kitchen.
Sandra previously owned and operated a café in Waynoka. And like the former Harvey House tenant, her restaurant too was shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Approached in the fall of 2024 about the opportunity to open a restaurant inside the historic dining space on the train platform, the Pierces jumped at the chance.
It took a clock tick to secure the funding and obtain the licenses required, but “we really wanted to tone in on the history. Our goal was to embrace it. I love being here,” Cheyanne said. “There’s a lot of history here for me personally.”
Upon the closing of Waynoka’s Harvey House in 1937, the building was occupied by the Santa Fe Railroad for five decades until the rail line vacated and locked the doors.
In 1995, Santa Fe donated the Harvey House and the adjoining depot to the City of Waynoka. The town in turn deeded them to Waynoka Historical Society, which created the Waynoka Air and Rail Museum to preserve Waynoka’s history under the guidance of then-society president Sandie Olson. Both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Restoration began during that time with the Harvey House transformation being completed in 1999.
While much of the dining room has changed over the years with different occupants, The Station Restaurant’s front dining area floor was restored prior to the Pierces taking over to mimic the Harvey House floor, and even remnants of the original marble lunch counter can be spotted. The back dining area is the original private dining room that was built in 1910 and remains intact.
The hallway to Harvey Girls’ dorm rooms on the second floor above The Station Restaurant is also original. Waynoka Air and Rail Museum did move around some of the dorm room walls to accommodate museum exhibits, but retained one of the dorm rooms as is for visitors to see how the Harvey Girls lived.
The museum received funding to upgrade during Oklahoma’s centennial celebration in 2007, allowing exhibits to be professionally designed and displayed in alignment with Oklahoma Historical Society standards. Bixler, who is the current Waynoka Historical Society president, assumed the role of museum curator in 2019 after Olson’s retirement.
Catering to patrons
The Station Restaurant’s menu ties into the train theme, such as the all aboard appetizers, caboose salad bar, railway signatures (dinner specialties), sidetracks (sides), and sweet departures (desserts).
Everything is freshly brought in weekly and/or homemade, Cheyanne touted, including the ranch and hickory mayo. The meat is locally procured from Whittet’s in Alva and the seasonings hail from Bob’s Gourmet Spice in Woodward.
The most popular item on the menu are The Station Restaurant’s onion rings, Cheyanne said, and their candied bacon is on everything from the sandwiches to the smash burgers. Steaks of every kind—sirloin, strip, smothered hamburger, or chicken fried—along with grilled or fried chicken and pork chops are available after 4 p.m.
There are daily specials, too, and a soup of the day.
A nod to the Harvey House menu is the topping on the bread pudding, straight from Fred Harvey’s cookbook, Cheyanne said.
The Pierces count on their regular patrons from throughout Woods County as well as many a duner or railroad enthusiast to roll into the train station.
“This is such a tourism town. As long as people keep coming in, we’ll stay open,” Cheyanne said.
The Station Restaurant, 1383 S Cleveland, Waynoka, is open Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Call (580) 824-0029. Follow the restaurant for daily specials at Facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573992377852.
Waynoka Air and Rail Museum is open Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment only. Call (580) 614-1896. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students. Read more about Waynoka’s origins at nwokbuzz.com/waynoka-station.