Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Company facts for kids
The Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Company was a business started by the Van Noy Brothers from Kansas City, Missouri. It began in the early 1900s to help people traveling on passenger trains. Back then, most trains didn't have special cars for eating or relaxing. The Van Noy brothers saw a chance to make money by opening restaurants at train stops and selling snacks and cool items on the trains themselves. Today, this company is known as HMSHost.
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How the Van Noy Company Started
In 1893, a man named Ira Clinton Van Noy opened a small shop in Kansas City, Missouri. He sold cigars and newspapers. Four years later, in 1897, he teamed up with his brothers, Charles S. and J.L. Van Noy, and G.W. Krebs. They officially started a company called the Van Noy Railroad News Company.
What did a "railroad news service" do? They sold magazines, newspapers, books, tobacco, fruits, nuts, and fun little items. They sold these from stands inside train stations. They also had young men called 'news butchers' who walked through the trains selling things. The business did very well, and the Van Noy brothers became important people in Kansas City. Ira C. Van Noy was the president, and his youngest brother, Henry Clay Van Noy, joined when he was old enough.
Growing the Business with Railroads
The Van Noy Railroad News Company grew super fast! They signed big deals with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and another railway called the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. Before trains had dining cars, Van Noy opened "eating houses" along the Missouri Pacific's long 7,500-mile (12,070 km) system. These places fed hungry passengers.
Later, at important train stations and places where train crews changed shifts, Van Noy built hotels. These hotels gave travelers and train crews a place to rest between trips. The company was so successful that in 1909, Ira C. Van Noy and Charles S. Van Noy built large homes in Kansas City. These homes were even added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Van Noy's Big Reach in 1910
By 1910, the Van Noy Railroad News Company controlled sales along 32,000 miles (51,499 km) of railroad tracks! They also owned 52 hotels and restaurants, 20 shops, and 21 offices. About 1,600 people worked for the company then. In 1912, they changed their name to the Van Noy Railway Hotel and News Company. This showed that hotels were becoming a very important part of their business.
Walt Disney's Summer Job
Did you know that Walt Disney once worked for Van Noy? In 1916, when he was 15 years old, Walt Disney spent a summer as a news butch. He sold items on different train lines that started from Kansas City. His first trip was from Kansas City to Jefferson City on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He also worked on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Kansas City Southern Railway. He wrote about this experience years later in a magazine.
Changes and Mergers
The Van Noy Railway Hotel and News Company started to combine with other companies in 1914. First, they bought the Brown News Company. Then, in 1915, they began joining forces with the Interstate News Company from New York City. In 1917, the company's name became Van Noy Interstate News Company. Ira C. Van Noy still led the company from Kansas City.
By 1922, the company's reach was huge, covering 90,000 miles (144,841 km) of railroad! They had many shops, restaurants, and hotels. However, trains were starting to add their own dining cars. This meant people didn't need the Van Noy eating houses as much. In 1923, the Missouri Pacific Railroad ended its long partnership with Van Noy. Van Noy still ran hotels at some smaller train stops where crews rested.
Where Were Van Noy Locations?
Here are some places where Van Noy had hotels or eating houses:
- Arkansas: Bald Knob, Benton, El Dorado, Fort Smith, Gurdon, Hope, Knobel, Lexa, McGehee, Newport, Van Buren, Wynne.
- Kansas: Coffeyville, Council Grove, Downs, Fort Scott, Goff, Greenleaf, Gypsum, Hoisington, Horace, Osawatomie, Wichita, Yates Center.
- Missouri: Bismark, Delta, Joplin, Poplar Bluff, Sedalia.
- Louisiana: Ferriday, Monroe
- Oklahoma: Wagoner
Moving Beyond Railway Services
As train travel changed, Van Noy Interstate started to focus more on its hotels. In 1922, they bought the Gem Fountain Company. By 1926, the company was simply called the Interstate Company. This company ran restaurants in train stations and lunch rooms in bus stations. One famous hotel they owned was The Beverly Hills Hotel, which Interstate operated from 1928 to 1932. The Van Noy family's time with the company ended after the last Van Noy brother, Henry Clay Van Noy, passed away.
The company expanded even more in 1954. Interstate Company won its first contract at the San Francisco International Airport. Over the years, the company changed names many times and combined with other businesses. It moved further away from its original railway news services. However, it still focused on helping travelers. By 1959, when the Interstate Company became Interstate HOSTS, all its railroad station restaurants had closed. In 1968, the name changed again to Host International. Then, in 1982, Marriott Corporation bought Host International and renamed it Host Marriott Corporation.
On March 22, 2002, a company called Autogrill bought the Host Marriott Services part of Marriott. This deal gave Autogrill contracts in many large U.S. airports. They also gained popular food brands like Pizza Hut, Burger King, Sbarro, and Starbucks. With more money from these new businesses, Autogrill was able to grow a lot in Europe's successful railway systems. This brought the company back to its roots in train travel! Autogrill renamed the company HMSHost. HMSHost is largely the company that continues the work started by the Van Noy operation in 1897. It still provides food, services, and fun to people who are traveling.
The hotel and resort parts of the original Van Noy business were separated from Marriott in 1996. That company is now called Host Hotels and Resorts. It is a special type of company that owns real estate, and it has about 229 employees today.
