Manufacturers: Warwick China, McNicol China, Victory China (a tradename for an unknown manufacturer), and Syracuse China
Disproven User: Fred Harvey
Actual User: Ford Hopkins Drug Stores and Tea Rooms
Pattern name: Southwest (as known within the railroad/railroad-adjacent dining car china community)
Date of Warwick examples: 1934, 1935
Date of McNicol bowl: 1931-1960s
Date of McNicol grill plate: 1931-1940s
Notes: (Edited March 2024) This FH logo placed within concentric circles has been named "Southwest" and associated with Fred Harvey for many decades – and officially since at least 1983 with the publication of "Dining on Rails," by Richard Luckin. But as Luckin wrote recently, "When I originally published 'Dining on Rails,' … the information in the book was based on what I knew at the time. As we all know as the years pass, we discover some facts we thought were true are not!"
A story had made the rounds casting doubt on this pattern's connection to Fred Harvey because Stan Skoczen, with Syracuse China, had said in his opinion the pattern was not Harvey related. What information Syracuse had, he said, was filed under "F," indicating this would have been the first word of the customer's name. However, all Harvey patterns were filed under "H." We at the RWCN followed up on this with a request for research by the Onondaga Historical Association. After an intensive search, they were unable to find any record or reference to this pattern at all in their records and order books, whether filed under "F" or H."
So it is that for at least several years the ID for Southwest has been questioned within restaurant china- and railroad-related online groups. And a little digging in 2023 turned up several examples of the matching logo and the true ID for Southwest, ironically for a business located specifically in the Midwest: Ford Hopkins Drug Stores and Tea Rooms.
The evidence is irrefutable. As shown in photos above, Ford Hopkins used the same italic, sans serif font style over and over in its advertising, used the exact same FH logo on some of its branded products, and there is even a sliver of the logo visible on a plate in one of its menus, tantalizingly tucked away beneath a serving of crinkle-cut fries.
Even though this ID was included as a Fred Harvey design in "Dining on Rails" and also Doug McIntyre's 1990 "The Official Guide to Railroad Dining Car China," what was lacking was any kind of smoking gun – as we say so frequently – that linked it directly to a Fred Harvey establishment. For example, McIntyre notes in "The Official Guide" that "There are rumors of b/s'ed pieces, but we have not seen one."
Doubts about the link to Fred Harvey were raised when McIntyre contacted Syracuse China. "In writing my book I spent many hours talking with and trading countless letters with Stan Skoczen. Mr. Skoczen spent decades working for Syracuse China and was the company historian. His research indicated while this pattern was made by Syracuse, there was no record of it being made for Fred Harvey. He further noted that the records for the pattern were filed under "F" and not "H," which is how all other Harvey patterns were filed. It was his opinion that it was not made for Harvey, and while he did not know what the F represented, he felt that the H was likely Hotel. He was a stickler for detail, and would only give attribution to a pattern when he had the records/proof to support it."
In his updates to his book on dining car china (shown above), Mcintyre addressed his reasons for doubting the validity of the Southwest/Fred Harvey ID, and included two additional known manufacturers of the pattern, for which photos are not available: Victory China and Syracuse China. Stan Skoczen with Syracuse, he said "dug up a record of the crest in a decorating department book. However, [as noted above] it is found in the section 'F' of the alphabetically arranged designs leading me to doubt that it is a Harvey pattern."
We can, therefore, put to rest the Southwest pattern under the umbrella of Fred Harvey patterns but are very happy to replace it with Ford Hopkins, "Famous for Good Things to Eat" with their drug stores combined with tea rooms and fountain service that included the FH within concentric circles logo in each venue.
White body with black and rusty orange red border, topmarked "FH" in a rusty orange red colored circle, surrounded by two rusty orange red lines — one bold than the other. (Color variations seem to vary between items manufactured by Warwick and McNicol, hence the sketchy "rusty orange red" descriptions.)
Sources:
"The Official Guide to Railroad Dining Car China," by Douglas McIntyre
"Dining on Rails," by Richard Luckin
Railroad Dining Car Collectors Silve and China Facebook group
McDonough County VOICE
Western Illinois University Digital Image Collection
Keokuk, Iowa Historians
Onondaga Historical Association
For more info:
Ford Hopkins Drug Stores and Tea Rooms, by Warwick and McNicol
Contributors:
Creamer photos: Carol Cardona
Bowl photos, research: Susan Phillips
ID/research: Rodric Coslet
ID/research: Roger Hoffmann
ID/research: Roland Burritt