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Iron Women: Ladies Who Helped Build the American Railroad
Phoebe Snow might have been a fictional character created by executive Earnest Elmo Calkins for the Calkins and Holden Advertising Agency in 1900, but she was one of the most influential women in the area of railroad travel for more than twenty years.[i]
Phoebe Snow was created to sell the idea of cleanliness in traveling on a railroad, specifically the Lackawanna, a short line that ran between Buffalo and New York City. The Lackawanna used sootless anthracite coal exclusively for locomotive fuel. Phoebe always wore a spotless white dress that was always cool looking, comfortable, and corsaged with orchids. She became so popular as a symbol of cleanliness, and was lodged so surely in the hearts and minds of train travelers, that her name was printed in big, bold, white letters on every piece of equipment owned by the Lackawanna.[ii]
Sometime prior to the first World War, the Lackawanna decided to introduce a fast, new passenger train to compete in the luxury market for wealthy rail travelers. This new train was to be the last word in elegance, comfort, prestige, and speed. When it came time to find a name it seemed as if the “Phoebe Snow” was the only name that was considered – yet up to this time, no train had been named for a woman. From that day forward, Phoebe Snow was to become the most famous of all deluxe passenger trains.[iii]
In the history of railroading, there were only two other passenger trains that were comparable in elegance, grandeur, and speed to the Phoebe Snow. They were the New York Central’s Twentieth Century Limited and the Great Northern’s Empire Builder.[iv]
The real Phoebe Snow was the first of all pin-up girls, and she was the rage of her day. She was the figment of the imagination of Earnest Elmo Calkins and was first painted by Harry Stacy Benton. The model was Marian Murray Gorsch, one of the first models used in advertising.[v]
Many of the advertisements featuring Phoebe Snow included a short poem. The poem associated with the first advertisement read as follows; “Says Phoebe Snow, about to go upon a trip to Buffalo. My gown stays white from morn till night upon the Road of Anthracite.”[vi]
Phoebe’s career ended in 1922, four years after the end of World War I. Anthracite was needed solely for military use and was subsequently prohibited by railroads. Phoebe’s services were no longer needed.[vii]
To learn more about the ladies who helped build the railroad read Iron Women
