By the time his plans were ready, President Theodore Roosevelt had authorized the construction of the Panama Canal, making Key West a potentially vital transportation hub. In 1885, Flagler took a trip to Jacksonville, Florida that would change his focus. At the time, Florida was still a young state and was keen to sell its land rights, and Flagler saw that even underdeveloped St. Augustine, the oldest European settlement in the US, was attracting plenty of wealthy tourists. The wealthy Flagler took an interest in Florida while seeking a warmer climate for his ailing first wife in the late 1870s. Henry Flagler Railroad Empire His first project was the beautiful and sophisticated Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine. By 1821, Florida was named a United States Territory, and in 1845 it became a state. If you live in Florida, you’re probably familiar with some of oil tycoon Henry M. Flagler’s work. “FLAGLER’S FOLLY” his critics called it, when Henry Morrison Flagler announced that he planned to run a railway out to sea, down the Florida Keys all the way to Key West. Designed by the architects of the Metropolitan Opera and New York Public Library, the Ponce de León was the height of luxury and immediately attracted visitors. Many considered the project impossible, but build it they did. Within months he opened the 1,100-room Royal Poinciana hotel, which Chandler called “the largest resort hotel in the world… equipped and staffed in the most luxurious manner imaginable,” and extended the railroad south to reach it. Henry Morrison Flagler (* 2.Januar 1830 in Hopewell, New York; † 20. Before his death in 1899, Plant helped to develop Florida with railways, steamships, and luxury hotels. This hotel was completed in 1888, and it was during it's construction that he began to add railroads to his collection of businesses. He even arranged a link-up with weather forecasters, and if a serious drop in temperature was predicted, his engine drivers sounded six long blasts on their whistles as they thundered through the orange groves, calling on farmers to hurry out with their “smudge pots”—oil-burning heaters that prevented frost from forming on the fruit trees. To foster local industry, Flagler also established a “Model Land Company,” which, in Chandler’s words, “did more perhaps to actually building up the Florida East Coast than any of his other undertakings.” He encouraged people to plant vegetables, citrus fruit, and pineapples, and when an unprecedented snowstorm wiped out the fledgling industry in the winter of 1884 he secretly spent a fortune helping the affected farmers. It failed to attract many passengers, and proved to be unreliable since it was affected by bad weather. With the completion of the Over-Sea Railroad the entire east coast of Florida, from Jacksonville to Key West, was linked by a single railroad system. FEC workers clear the roadbed before laying down rail tracks. He knew this would not be an easy feat and was told by many engineers that it … The Story Behind Florida’s Abandoned Overseas Railroad Will Boggle Your Mind. Sadly, however, the line never prospered. Another consequence of these freezes was Flagler’s decision to extend his railroad south, for only 60 miles (100km) away the climate was warmer and better suited to farming. Henry Morrison Flagler By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC In 1890, America was astounded by Henry Morrison Flagler whose Florida East Coast Railroad was pushing southward along the Atlantic Coast from St. Augustine to Miami. After their wedding, the couple traveled to St. Augustine, Florida. Instead, Henry Flagler chose to spend the last 30 years of his life building a railroad line in Florida and establishing Florida’s tourist industry. What was needed was a reliable railroad that would link the town directly to New York, so Flagler bought up the existing lines and converted them to standard gauge. Consequently, the railroad went bankrupt in 1932, and the offshore track was destroyed on Labor Day 1935, during the worst storm of the century. Henry Flagler acquired his unseemly wealth by highly debatable means during his partnership with John D Rockefeller at Standard Oil. “There is an impelling force within me,” he told a friend, “and I must carry out my plans”—and the result was his 128-mile (206-km) “overseas railway.”. Ida Alice (née Shourds) Flagler had been a caregiver for Mary. ©Flagler Museum Archives. Flagler found the city charming, but the hotel facilities and transportati… Instead, Henry Flagler chose to spend the last 30 years of his life building a railroad line in Florida and establishing Florida’s tourist industry. When he started work it was one of the poorest states in the Union—today it has one of the strongest economies in the world. This was largely thanks to the loyalty of Flagler’s men, one of whom told a reporter “there isn’t one of us who wouldn’t give a year of his life to have Mr. Flagler see the work completed.” And see it he did, opening the line to the public on January 22, 1912, tearfully exclaiming: “my dream is fulfilled, now I can die happy.” He had never expected to see the project completed, predicting 20 years earlier that it would take 30 years to finish, and accurately forecasting: “I have only 20 more years to live.” The line’s completion was celebrated by the introduction of the Havana Express, a regular through service that arrived at Key West only 52 hours after leaving New York, giving passengers the luxury of strolling across the quay to take a ship to Cuba, a mere 90 miles (45km) away. According to Flagler’s biographer, David Chandler, Rockefeller readily admitted that Flagler was an inspiration. ©Flagler Museum Archives. "To understand the railroad, you must first understand a little about its developer, Henry Flagler," said Tom Hambright, historian at the Monroe County Public Library in Key West. In 1904, the brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler, partner to John D. Rockefeller, dreamed of a railway connecting the island of Key West to the Florida mainland, crossing a staggering 153 miles of open ocean—an engineering challenge beyond even that of the Panama Canal. The Main stuff. 1859: Had accumulated $50,000 capital. Historic photograph of Henry Flagler's first hotel, Hotel Ponce de Leon, in St. Augustine (now Flagler College). Then he faced the 37 miles (60km) of the “overseas” railroad itself, a route demanding 17 miles (27km) of bridges and 20 miles (32km) of embankments—a feat of engineering that has never been equaled. It was whilst he was with his wife in Florida that he really started to see the potential of the state. 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