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Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913) was a principal in Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler and later, Standard Oil during the Gilded Age in the United States. The wealthy man took interest in Florida while seeking a warmer climate for his ailing first wife in the late 1870s. Returning to Florida in 1881, he became the builder and developer of resort hotels and railroads along the east coast of Florida.
Beginning with St. Augustine, he moved progressively south. Flagler helped develop Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Palm Beach, and became known as the Father of Miami, Florida.
Flagler's rail network became known as the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). By 1904, the Florida Eastern Coast (FEC) Railroad had reached Homestead, south of Miami.
Henry M. Flagler
Developing Florida's East Coast
The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) was developed by Henry Morrison Flagler, a United States tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and Rockefeller partner in Standard Oil. Originally based in Cleveland, Ohio and formed as Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler in 1867, in 1877, Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City, and Flagler and his family moved there as well. He was joined by Henry H. Rogers, another leader of Standard Oil who also became involved in the development of America's railroads.
Promotional excursions such as the Florida Special helped make the state the tourist "Mecca" it is today.
Henry Flagler's non-Standard Oil interests went in a different direction, however, when in 1878, on the advice of her physician, Flagler traveled to Jacksonville, Florida for the winter with his first wife, Mary, who was quite ill.
Two years after she died in 1881, he married one of Mary's former caregivers. After their wedding, the couple traveled to St. Augustine, Florida. Flagler found the city charming, but the hotel facilities and transportation systems inadequate. He recognized Florida's potential to attract out-of-state visitors. Though Flagler remained on the Board of Directors of Standard Oil, he gave up his day-to-day involvement in the corporation to pursue his interests in Florida.
When Flagler returned to Florida, in 1885 he began building a grand St. Augustine hotel, the Ponce de León Hotel. Flagler realized that the key to developing Florida was a solid transportation system and consequently purchased the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax Railroad.
He also noticed that a major problem facing the existing Florida railway systems was that each operated on different gauge systems, making interconnection impossible. Shortly after purchasing the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Halifax Railroad, he converted the line to standard gauge.
The Ponce de Leon Hotel
The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway served the northeastern portion of the state and was the first property in the Flagler Railroad system, which would eventually become the Florida East Coast Railway Company. Before Flagler bought the organization, the railroad stretched only between South Jacksonville and St. Augustine and lacked a depot sufficient to accommodate travelers to his St. Augustine resorts. Flagler built a modern depot facility as well as schools, hospitals, and churches, systematically revitalizing the largely abandoned historic city.
Flagler next purchased three additional existing railroads: the St. John's Railway, the St. Augustine and Palatka Railway, and the St. Johns and Halifax River Railway so that he could provide extended rail service on standard gauge tracks. Through the operation of these three railroads, by spring 1889 Flagler's system offered service from Jacksonville to Daytona. Continuing to develop hotel facilities to entice northern tourists to visit Florida, Flagler bought and expanded the Ormond Hotel, located along the railroad's route north of Daytona.
Beginning in 1892, when landowners south of Daytona petitioned him to extend the railroad 80 miles south, Flagler began laying new railroad tracks; no longer did he follow his traditional practice of purchasing existing railroads and merging them into his growing rail system. Flagler obtained a charter from the state of Florida authorizing him to build a railroad along the Indian River to Miami and as the railroad progressed southward, cities such as New Smyrna and Titusville began to develop along the tracks.
By 1894, Flagler's railroad system reached what is today known as West Palm Beach. Flagler constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach overlooking the Lake Worth Lagoon. He also built The Breakers Hotel on the ocean side of Palm Beach, and Whitehall, his private 55 room, 60,000 square foot (5,600 m²) winter home. The development of these three structures, coupled with railroad access to them, established Palm Beach as a winter resort for the wealthy members of America's Gilded Age.
The Royal Poinciana
The Breakers Hotel
Flagler's Winter Residence and Flagler Museum
Key West Extension: Eighth Wonder of the World
After the United States announced in 1905 the construction of the Panama Canal, Flagler became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland. Key West, the United States' closest deep-water port to the Canal, could not only take advantage of Cuban and Latin America trade, but the opening of the Canal would allow significant trade possibilities with the west.
Overseas Railroad (also known as Florida Overseas Railroad) was the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city of almost 20,000 inhabitants located 128 miles beyond the end of the Florida peninsula. It operated from 1912 to 1935.
Initially called "Flagler's Folly", the construction of the overseas railroad required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and monetary resources. At one time during construction, four thousand men were employed. During the seven year construction, five hurricanes threatened to halt the project. Costs were estimated at between $20 million and $40 million.
Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway was completed in 1912. In that year, a proud Henry Flagler rode the first train into Key West aboard his private railcar "Rambler", marking the completion of the railroad's overseas connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida. It was widely known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".
Train traveling the FEC Overseas Railroad (Key West Extension) on the Seven Mile Bridge
Flagler getting off the "Rambler" at Key West for official opening of extension to Key West.
Demise
The portion of the Overseas Railroad in the Middle Keys was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 hurricane which is often called "The Storm of the Century". The September 2, 1935 storm killed between 400 and 700 people and devastated Long Key and adjacent areas. The FEC's Long Key Fishing Camp was destroyed, as was a FEC rescue train which became swamped at Islamorada.
The Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the State of Florida, which built the Overseas Highway to Key West, using much of the remaining railway infrastructure. Rebuilt in the 1980s, following Flagler's dream, the Overseas Highway ( U.S. Route 1) continues to provide a highway link to Key West, ending at the buoy which marks the southernmost point in the continental United States. Many old concrete bridges of the Overseas Railroad remain in use as fishing piers.
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