English: Henry Morrison Flagler. Pre-1923 image, not subject to copyright. Category:History of Miami, Florida Français : Henry Morrison Flagler, célèbre homme d'affaires américain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you are not a native Floridian, a historian, or one who does your research before traveling, you may not have even heard the name Henry Flagler. When you visit St Augustine or many parts of Florida nine times out of ten you will hear it more than once.
If you are visiting St Augustine for the first time, you are in for a treat. Not only are we the oldest continued settlement in the continental US, our city is recognized as one of the top ten cities for historic preservation. Upon entering into the historic district you can’t help but notice our grand buildings with tall domes, our beautiful churches, and other architectural masterpieces most of which have something to do with the name Henry Flagler. As a matter of fact if you take a tour of any city on the Atlantic Coast of Florida the name Flagler may be unavoidable simply since so much is named after this one man.
Who was he you ask?
English: East (Front) elevation from the northeast, Henry M. Flagler Mansion, Whitehall Way, . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Born in Hopewell, New York, Henry M. Flagler received an eighth-grade education before leaving home in 1844 to seek his fortune at just fourteen years of age. After a few years working in a family store in Ohio, Flagler moved to Michigan to get into salt mining. After losing over $100,000 of his and his family’s money in the salt business at the end of the Civil War, Flagler returned to Ohio and entered a family grain concern as a commission merchant. There, he met a young sales agent named John D. Rockefeller – a common name all over the US. When Rockefeller left to start his own oil refinery, he looked to Flagler for an investment. After obtaining 100,000 from family member Stephen Harkness Flagler soon became a partner in what would become Standard Oil. This eventually became the largest oil company in the entire world.
St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States, established in 1565 by Spain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After Flagler fell ill a doctor prescribed him some warmer weather and it was then he arrived in Jacksonville, Florida for the winter of 1876 to escape the cold. Two years later, he returned with a new bride and honeymooned in St. Augustine. He thought our city was charming in every way, but found the hotels and transportation system lacking and thought of countless ways to improve this flaw. He set out to transform the area into a vacation-resort community, which would eventually draw politicians and the wealthy from all over the U.S. to our small town.
First, he built the amazing Ponce de Leon Hotel on King Street. Today this serves as Flagler College– a four year Liberal Arts College. Starting the project in 1887 commissioning architects Carrere and Hastings from New York, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and one famous artist with an assistant the building was completed in 1888. The Ponce de Leon was not his only hotel. Shortly after its completion he built the Hotel Alcazar directly across from the Ponce, which housed the largest indoor swimming pool in the United States. Today this building is the Lightner Museum– popular attraction for visitors also serving as the town’s City Hall. The in ground pool is now the site of the popular Café Alcazar.
St. Augustine, Florida: Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Shortly after these constructions, Flagler purchased small regional rail lines and connected them, creating the Florida East Coast Railway. He also built a modern depot, schools, hospitals and churches to have the facilities to serve his growing holdings in St. Augustine. Flagler did not stop here. He purchased hotel properties in Ormond Beach and built several world class hotels in the Palm Beach area. He also built a rail bridge to expand rail service across the St. John’s River and into the Southern half of the state. Eventually the rail way was extended all the way to the southern most tip of Florida. By the year 1912, Flagler’s Overseas Railway was complete. The railway was later heavily damaged in a hurricane in 1935, but its foundations are now Highway US1.
Flagler fell down a flight of stairs at his Whitehall Mansion in Palm Beach and never fully recovered from his injuries. By the time of his death on May 20th, 1913 at 83 years of age Flagler had invested more than $50 million of his personal fortune in the development of his adopted home state of Florida.
After his death he was entombed in the Flagler family mausoleum at the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine (pictured above) alongside his first wife, Mary Harkness; daughter, Jenny Louise; and granddaughter, Marjorie.
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