Henry Flagler and the Train That Built Florida

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Who doesn't love a good train ride? I know that I do. And we have to admit that Florida probably has the most fascinating story when it comes to developing train travel more than any place else in the country outside of perhaps the transcontinental railroad. On this week's Tales from South Florida, it's Henry Flagler and the train that built Florida. Cue the music.

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Let's take a talk down memory lane. Cause the stories around here are just insane. Pirates World, the Sporto and Wolfie's Tooth. Palm beach to Key west. That's where we grew. These are the tales from South Florida for you with your host, Bill Monte.

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In 1912, Henry Flagler arrived aboard the first train into Key west, marking the completion of the Florida East Coast Railway Oversea Railroad to Key West. With the completion of the Oversea railroad, the entire east coast of Florida, from Jacksonville on south, was now linked by a single railroad system. The Florida East Coast Railway, or the Fecundo, was the product of Henry Flagler's resources and imagination. Flagler's construction of hotels at points along the railroad and his development of the agricultural industry through the Model Land Company established tourism and agriculture as Florida's major industries, which remained so more than a century later. In essence, Henry Flagler, maybe more than anybody else, invented modern Florida. Amazingly, Flagler accomplished these feats after retiring from his first career. He had co founded Standard Oil with partners John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews long before becoming interested in Florida. And Standard Oil remained the largest and most profitable corporation in the world for more than a century. When Flagler first visited Florida in 1878, he immediately recognized the state's potential for growth, but noticed there was a definite lack of hotel facilities. Lots of mosquitoes, not a lot of hotels. He returned to Florida, and in 1885, with an eye toward developing the area around St. Augustine, he began building the grandest hotel of the time, the Hotel Ponce de Leon. Flagler realized that the key to developing Florida was a solid transportation system. He 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. This made connecting all the railroads together impossible. And shortly after making the purchase of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax Railroad, he converted the line to a standard gauge, and from there the floodgates opened. Flagler soon purchased three more railroads so that he could provide extended rail service on standard gauge tracks. With the addition of these three railroads, by spring 1889, Flagler offered service from Jacksonville to Daytona. He continued to develop Hotel facilities to entice northern tourists to visit Florida. He bought and expanded the Hotel Ormond, which was located along the railroad's route north of Daytona. And beginning in 1892, when landowners south of Daytona petitioned him to extend the railroad 80 miles south, he began laying new railroad tracks. He no longer followed any traditional practice of purchasing existing railroads and merging them into a growing rail system. He now was going to build his own railway system. By 1894, Flagler's railroad system reached what is today known as West Palm Beach. He constructed the Hotel Royal Poinciana on the eastern shore of Lake Worth in what is now known as Palm Beach. He also built. Get ready for this one, folks. He built the Breakers Hotel on the ocean side of Palm beach and Whitehall, the private 75 room, hundred thousand square foot winter home. You can tour Whitehall. Still in Palm Beach, Flagler's home. It's beautiful. Went there a couple years ago. Absolutely gorgeous. The building of the hotels coupled with railroad access to them, established Palm beach as a winter resort for the wealthy members of America's Gilded Age. And the Hotel Royal Poinciana soon became the world's largest resort. Now, thinking about it before he even extended his railroad to Daytona, it's a pretty safe bet that Henry Flagler was seriously considering how he could get the railway all the way to Key West. But he was content to wait. Probably was a result of the severe freezes of 1894 and 1895, which affected the state as far south as Palm Beach. So this freeze came in during that time, wiped out the citrus farms, and it seemed like things were going to slow down in terms of Florida's growth. To further convince Flagler to continue the railroad to a little tiny place in southern Florida called Fort Dallas, he was offered land for private landowners, most notably a woman named Julia Tuttle. Ever been on the Julia Tuttle Causeway? I thought so. Now, the story goes that Julia Tuttle actually sent Henry Flagler a basket of oranges and flowers to show that the freeze had not affected growth in the South Florida region. It worked. Henry Flagler started up again and got that railroad down to Fort Dallas. In September 1895, Flagler system was incorporated as the Florida East Coast Railway Company. And by 1896, it reached Biscayne Bay, the largest and most accessible harbor on Florida's east coast. To further develop the area surrounding the Fort Dallas railroad station, Flagler dredged a channel. He built streets, he instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the Metropolis. When the town Incorporated in 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for the city's development by naming it Flagler. He declined the honor. He instead persuaded them to use the Native American name for the river running through the settlement, Miami, which became Miami when the United states announced in 1905 its intention to build the Panama Canal. Flagler embarked on perhaps his greatest challenge. The extension of his railway down to Key west, which at that time was the city of about 20,000 inhabitants. A train depot in Key west, the United States closest deep water port to the canal, could not only take advantage of Cuban and Latin America trade, but significant trade possibilities with the west via the new canal. The construction of the Oversea railroad required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and a whole lot of money. The construction employed up to 4,000 men, and during the seven years of construction, five hurricanes threatened to halt the project, with three causing major damage. Despite the hardships and the engineering challenges, the Oversea railroad, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway, was completed on January 22, 1912, just weeks after Henry Flagler's 82nd birthday. Linking the entire east coast of Florida with the transportation system at a time when most of Florida was largely an uninhabited frontier demanded a great deal of foresight and perseverance. More than a century later, the mainstays of Florida's economy are still active. Agriculture and tourism. And Flagler's incredible legacy as the inventor of modern Florida can still clearly be seen throughout the state. Unfortunately, the railroad to Key west would not survive Florida's infamous hurricane seasons, and in 1935, part of the tracks were destroyed by the Labor Day hurricane. The path that laid though became the blueprint for the Overseas highway and the famous Seven Mile Bridge. Been on that many times myself. In 1971, the Amtrak national intercity passenger rail system began, and there are currently three Amtrak routes that travel in Florida. Locally, we have the trirail commuter rail system operated by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which opened for service in 1989. I recently. Recently meaning last weekend I took Tri Rail up to West Palm beach from Hollywood. It really was quite a nice ride. I only went up to West Palm beach for lunch. Can you imagine just taking the train, getting off at the station in West Palm? I took a free shuttle to Clematis street, had some lunch with my family, we walked around a little bit, and we got back on the train. Total cost $5 per person. Can't be beat. If you'd like to see a little bit more about my trip, it's available on the Tales From South Florida YouTube channel. Henry Flagler and his contributions cannot be overstated. How important they were to the development of Florida. And to this day, we're still aware of them and they're still a part of us. Again, you could visit Whitehall in West Palm Beach. That was his mansion and you can see how Henry Flagler lived and learn a little bit more about him. And for a fun afternoon, hey, hop on the tri rail and maybe have a flashback to what it was like when he first laid those tracks so many, many years ago. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit like. Please hit the subscribe button, make a comment and share with your friends so they can enjoy not only this episode, but all of the episodes that make up the podcast Tales from South Florida. I do so appreciate it and if you have time, you might want to take a listen to my other podcast, Bill Monte's Guide for Getting Older and America 451, available where refined podcasts can be found and on YouTube. Thanks for taking this talk down memory lane with me. I've enjoyed it and I hope that you did too. Until next time, please remember to be safe and be kind.

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Let's take a talk down memory lane cause the stories around here are just insane. Pirates World Despoto and Wolfies do Palm beach to Key west. That's where we grew. These are the Tales from South Florida for you with your host, Bill Monte.