Early Female Architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter Left Her Mark in History
Her main accomplishments were at the Grand Canyon
An early notable architect and designer was Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter. Locally, there were few women architects in the early part of the 1900s and she was one of them.
Colter designed the Harvey House Restaurant at the Los Angeles, California Union Station. She also designed The Westport Room at the Kansas City, Missouri Union Station. The Westport Room was a popular upscale restaurant. She also designed and decorated other structures for the Fred Harvey Company in the southwest.
The once-praised Super Chief train had dining cars that were staffed by Fred Harvey Company Personnel. Mary designed a china pattern called Mimbreno that was used in the dining cars.
Mary was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and her family moved to Colorado and Texas before landing in St. Paul, Minnesota. By that time, Mary was 11 and the minority population then was Sioux Indians. She was intrigued by the Native American cultures.
When there was a smallpox epidemic in the Indian community, her mother believed if they had any Native American items, they needed to be burned so the sickness wouldn’t spread to their family. The Native American drawings given to…
