By Wellborn Phillips Jr.
Flagler Street is named for Mr. Henry M. Flagler, one of
histories’ most remarkable persons who lived an eventful 83 years, from 1830 to
1913-- years that historians have divided into 3 radically different periods.
In the first period—and
as a 14 year old “child protégée”—Henry left home so he could make a fortune
for himself. In Bellevue, Ohio he was
hired by a distant relative, the owner of a large store-- who also had a
daughter named Mary. In quick order, Henry made a fortune for the store (and for
himself), the owner gave Henry a part ownership of the business—and Henry
responded by marrying his daughter, Mary.
After several years happily married, Henry learned about
salt wells in Michigan which he decided were a quick—and safe way to earn a
fortune—and surely better than working in a store. . So Henry sold his interest in the store for $50,000,
he and Mary moved to Saginaw, Michigan and with the $50,000 they bought a salt well. For 2 years, Henry was getting rich. But the Civil War ended—salt prices
collapsed—and Henry was broke. It was
Henry’s one-and- only failure EVER!
In the second period in 1867, Henry joined John D. Rockefeller
and Samuel Andrews in a partnership—Rockefeller, Andrews and Flagler—that
eventually became the Standard Oil Company.
The success of the Standard Oil Company was largely due to three people: Andrews, a chemist, who was busy finding new ways to refine petroleum and to Rockefeller and Flagler who were busy doing
three things to expand SOC: by forcing competitors into bankruptcy and buying
them out cheap; by forming monopolies and
by getting kick-backs from railroads.
But times were changing. And Rockefeller
and Flagler weren’t the only ones.
During the 2nd half of the 1800’s, men like Cornelius
Vanderbilt (and his railroads), William Astor (of fur fame), J. P Morgan (on
Wall Street) and others acted like SOC—and all were promptly—and correctly named
“Robber Barons” by the public and press..
Suddenly the word
“corporation” became a dirty word with many. People were outraged by the tactics of these
new companies. And their size, strength—and
new-found power. Soon the press was describing
the situation, people were complaining and governments were getting involved..
Florida’s Flagler relates a typical battle at a Senate
hearing between the Committee’s lawyer and Henry Flagler: the attorney had finished telling the meeting
about the public’s dislike for Standard Oil.
And he demanded that Flagler answer a question. Flagler responded by confusing the issue. He shouted back, ‘It suites me to go elsewhere for
advice, particularly as I’m not paying
you for it.”
The lawyer responded, ‘I’m not paying you to rob the
community, I’m trying to expose the robbery.”
Later, Flagler
suggested better procedures for Standard Oil officers: cut out the hassles—he said, but don’t give them
information-- Just a “Yes, sir,” or “No, Sir,” or “I do not remember.”.
Flagler’s career with
Standard Oil was both brilliant –and brutal.
He not only made a fortune as a close
associate of John D. Rockerfeller and as Vice President and a Member of
the Board of Directors during a most profitable era but when he left the
company, he carried with him its 3rd largest block of common stock
which continued to appreciate in value and pay handsome dividends.
Henry M. Flagler was one of the richest men in
America—adjusted for today’s standards, his wealth would amount to several
billion dollars!
The third--and final-- period of Henry’s life begins with Henry’s
decisions to make a slow retirement from Standard Oil and to build the Ponce de Leon
Hotel in St. Augustine. And with the
loss of his first wife. By any
standards, the final period of Henry’s life—the 30 years in Florida—was the
more advantageous for mankind. His
objectives had improved. Although still
the hard-driving entrepreneur who always got what he wanted, Flagler’s emphasis
was no longer on making money to the exclusion of everything else: often, he spent more than he made.
Much of the story involves key questions for Henry and how Henry answered them. For example:
What do I do after building the Ponce de Leon Hotel? How far south should I go? And WHAT, if anything should I do about Key
West? .At the same time, Henry had side issues to deal with (Like how do I get
out of Standard Oil?) and simultaneously,
he had monumental problems with his second wife.
Back on June 5, 1883
when Henry married his second wife-- Ida Alice Shourds -- at the
Madison Avenue Church in New York, few—if any--of Alice’s supposed friends showed up but no one gave it
serious thought because the church was packed with Henry’s friends.
However, before the
marriage, each member of the Flagler and Harkness clans visited with Henry
individually to warn him of possible difficulties. She is thirty five and you are fifty three,
they reminded him—also there are tremendous differences between her interests
and yours, they told him. But Henry went
ahead with the wedding..
For several years, Henry and Alice had a happy married
life. But at the same time, Alice became more sensitive and emotional, more self-centered, interested in things like her own social
standing or personal appearance.
The first time that Henry seemed to realize anything strange
was happening to his wife was after a yachting party off the coast of New
England where Alice was entertaining a
group of ladies.. They got into a storm with sixty mile an hour wind and high
seas for six hours. After everyone got
seasick, they begged the captain to turn
the ship around and he started to do just that—but Alice ordered him to stay on
course.
Henry was frantic
when the ship was over-due and pleased when it finally sailed in. Somehow, he didn’t get a full report until days
later when the captain told him what had happened. “The ship—with all aboard—could have been
lost!” the captain told Henry. Henry was
shocked-- but for the moment he confided in no one.
Several years went by.
Nothing monumental happened—although Henry was just puzzled when Alice
got irritable over minor events. Then
suddenly, she began telling stories about Henry, claiming he was beating
her—stories she made convincing by alternating good stories with bad ones. But
the stories came to the attention of Dr. George G. Shelton, a prominent
physician and personal friend of the Flagler family.
In 1984, Henry arranged for Alice to hire Dr. Shelton as her
personal physician-- without Alice learning Shelton and Henry were friends.
In the next year,
Alice’s condition went downhill. She had
delusions. : first, about the absolute powers of three little stones that she
had; then, that she thought her
relations with Henry had “gone to pieces”; and, finally , she decided she was in love with the Czar of Russia..
Dr. Sheldon was stunned. . .But he returned to his office.
. . And he faithfully reported to Henry details of the meeting with Alice. .
.He also entered in his Appoint Book Alice’s next appointment , October 7.
Soon, Henry bought an apartment on Fifth Avenue where he
thought Alice would be happy (and Dr. Sheldon would be closer.) And Sheldon encouraged Alice to call him if
she had any problems. She promptly reported a slight headache—and kept Sheldon
busy: at first, there were discussion of
many prominent New Yorkers, who—she insisted-- were disloyal to their wives,
and she discussed the supposed sexual activities of each; later, she began talking again about her love for the Czar of Russia
and an hour later, she appeared at Sheldon’s office with her Ouija board to
confirm that the Czar was madly in love with her also and they would be married
immediately upon Henry’s death.
Doctor Sheldon was, once again, shocked.
He tried to get her specific date for Henry’s death. She wouldn’t cooperate. Sheldon immediately called Henry and reported
what had happened.. And Henry, once
again, decided he would do nothing.
Several days later, Alice visited one of New York’s best—and
most expensive Jewelry stores and purchased a $2,000 cat’s eye diamond ring.
Then, she addressed it to the Czar and mailed it.
Then, she addressed it to the Czar and mailed it.
Today, if you and I
tried such a stunt, the ring would probably just get lost. But in October,
1895—and for Henry Flagler-- the ring was intercepted in the mail by the Post
Office and returned to Flagler.
In the mean time, Alice’s appointment with Dr. Sheldon was
forgotten. Henry wanted advice from
other Doctors also. . .Then, Alice
became violent. . .. And a dozen new aids were hired to handle her. Then she began making threats against
Henry. And Henry moved into a hotel.
.On October 24, 1895, Alice was committed to a sanitarium in
Pleasantville, New York.
Henry took Sheldon’s advice and went to St. Augustine. Then, he returned to New York—nothing satisfied him. He also
talked frequently with the doctors about
his wife’s condition.
There were also
business decisions to be made. Henry
continuously checked the numerous jobs
in St. Augustine. Everything was either
finished or moving toward completion and on time. He also learned about a bill in Florida’s
legislature, granting an exclusive franchise for a railroad south to the Miami
River. He told himself, I doubt we’ll go that far. But perhaps we should d buy
that—just in case.
During all this time, Henry was thinking about Alice. Finally, in the spring of 1896, one of the
doctors, a Dr. Starr, told Henry, “Your wife is better, but not fully
cured. She told me to tell you she still
loves you. It may be possible to bring
her home some day, but I can’t guarantee anything.
Henry was disappointed—there was no guarantee-- but he
already knew what he would do. To a
friend in St. Augustine, Dr. Anderson, he wrote, “I shall try to keep up courage
and make the best fight in her behalf that is possible.” Immediately,
plans were executed to bring Alice home by June 5th, their wedding
anniversary —and to a new home named “Lawn Beach” in Mamaroneck, New York which they had bought before all the “trouble” started—but never
used. . .So Alice and Henry were happily reunited—after 8 months –and it was an
especially happy one: on their wedding anniversary.
Everything seemed natural and without restraint. Henry was delighted—he could not see any
flaws in his wife’s mental action. He
told himself—it’s a miracle!.
To Dr. Anderson in St. Augustine he wrote, “I am surprised
and need not say delighted at the outcome—it seems too good to be true.”
The next few weeks were great ones, especially for Henry who
hadn’t been really happy since back in October. And Mamaroneck was unique. It was a gated community by itself. Henry had a number of fine trotting
horses for use of the two families and
their guests `And there was a quarter mile track for the horses.
Bicycle riding had also become a national craze And Henry
had thoughtfully given Mamaroneck a good
supply of bicycles for both family clans and friends who visited.. So now he
and Alice began bicycling for at least 10
miles a day.
For the month of
June, Alice seemed to behave like Henry
remembered her. She suggested that her
husband sell the Fifth Avenue House—with all of the unpleasant memories of six
months ago—so they could divide more of their time between Mamaroneck and St.
Augustine.
But then, some guests arrived and with no warning, Alice suddenly asked for
a Ouija board. And immediately, she reverted to previous
behaviors: the Czar of Russia and Henry
infidelities. To Henry’s face, she still
told him she love him.
To Dr. Anderson in St. Augustine, Henry wrote, “It almost
breaks my heart to write this sad news.
Please don’t mention it to anyone.”
Several months passed.
Alice got her Ouija board, her
mental equilibrium was completely destroyed and
she lost interest in events around her…In the next few months,
Mamaronock was converted to a hospital with doctors and nurses, disguised as friends of the family, attending
to Alice around the clock.
Henry moved out of
Mamaonock and into a New York apartment.
On March 27, 1897,
Alice was committed again to the sanitarium.
At the same time—and despite problems with Alice—Henry had
to know, at all times, what was happening with “his job”. His workmen were
laying tracks south of St. Augustine. . .Months later, the tracts reached Daytona.
And once in a while
Henry would ask himself, How much further south should I go? Sometimes, he remembered that back in 1892,
he got from the Florida legislature a charter for a railroad south to the Miami
River. We’ll never use it, he told
himself once again-- but it’s nice to
know we could dust it off and use it if
we ever wanted to, .
Then suddenly, Henry remembered passing a small—but
attractive—hotel north of Daytona. He
went back and checked it out. The price was
right--—so he bought it and he promptly added
100 rooms and beautified the grounds. It was his third hotel—the Ormand Beach
Hotel.
At the same time, Henry
began dabbling in various ventures south of Daytona there were orange groves, boats on the St.
Johns River. And new people wandered
into town every day. Soon, Henry started
a model farm at San. Mateo. He also decided
to create good public relations—invitations went out to each resident of San
Mateo—about 150 people—to invite them to take a free train ride to St. Augustine and
enjoy a free meal at the Ponce de Leon Hotel—and everything on the menu was
available..
By now, the Flagler organization had a 1,500 man
construction crew laying tracts, first
south to Rockledge, then to New Smyrna,
then to Titusville and finally to Cocoa.
On March 22, 1894, the tracts reached Lake Worth across from Palm Beach
and Henry watched his first engine chug down the line and stop where the rails
ended a mile west of Lake Worth.
Palm Beach was already a prosperous little community for the
elite with several dozen nice homes and with
two leading citizens, Captain W. O. Porter and Robert A. McCormick—a member of the Chicago Harvester Family. For a few days, Flagler wandered around Palm Beach—and probably surprised himself: he bought 2 tracts of land from McCormick on
the east side of Lake Worth where he would build two more famous Hotels—the
Royal Poinciana and Breakers—hotels that soon would be #4 and 5.
And he announced work would start immediately on the Royal Poinciana.
West of Lake Worth, the situation was radically
different. There was not even a
scattering of little houses. But that didn’t stop Flagler. He bought a huge tract of land from Captain Porter.. And
almost immediately, he announced he was
starting a new town to be known as West
Palm Beach.
Fifteen years later—by 1909--- a new county— Palm Beach
County-- was carved from Dade County and
by then, West Palm Beach had a population of 1,700 so WPB became the County Seat.
But now, we are getting ahead of our story. . .
For the next 14 months, Flagler was busy building the 1,100
room Royal Poinciana Hotel, the largest
wooden structure in the world and a the
same time, starting to build West Palm
Beach but perhaps he was also asking himself the same question he had been
asking himself ever since he left
Standard Oil—What Do I Do Next?
This time the answer was different—and no longer based on Flagler’s
own figures or experience—as in each
case before. This time, the answer came from a very determined little
lady Flagler had been avoiding (he didn’t even answer her letters) and she
lived in that unincorporated, largely uninhabited area 90 miles south of Palm
Beach known as” The Miami Area.”
The “very determined little lady” was Julia Tuttle.
Years before, Julia fell in love with the romantic idea of
South Florida when her father, Ephean Sturtevant, moved there with William
Brickell in1870. And Sturtevant bought an orange grove and
Brickell built his store which he called his “trading post.”. Back then, Julia couldn’t leave Cleveland. She had just married a wealthy steel mill
owner Frederick Leonard Tuttle and Julia herself was a prominent Cleveland
socialite.
Before long, however,
there were two deaths in the family—Julia’s husband and her father. At the same time, Julia remembered a 640 acre tract north of the Miami River
that interested her—and she learned it was now for sale. Almost immediately,
she decided she would sell the orange grove and the steel mill, move to the
Miami Area and buy the 640 acre tract.
Julia also began dreaming of a large city which would rise
some day from the jungle, but the
success of her dreams, she knew, depended upon some railroad connecting up with
her area—and that would be either the South Florida Railroad in Central Florida
or the Florida East Coast Railroad from Jacksonville to St Augustine. The FECRR
was Julia’s first choice. Henry Flagler
was the owner, she learned.. He and Rockerfeller,
she remembered, once lived in Cleveland
and she felt she knew them. So she sent
several letters to Flagler. But Flagler
did not reply.
Months later, Julia wrote to South Florida Railroad in Tampa. She was delighted with a reply from James E.
Ingraham, president of SFRR who offered to travel to Cleveland to discuss her
ideas. During his visit, she offered
half of her lands to entice the railroad to extend their lines into the Miami
Area. Ingraham explained they might be
interested. They had completed their
tracts from Sanford to Tampa.
Ingraham also explained that while he was president of the
line, a Mr. Henry B. Plant actually owned the railroad. He would talk with Plant as soon as he got
back to Tampa. And he would be in touch
with her immediately after that. Months
later, Julia learned Ingraham was in the Everglades surveying for SFRR.
Julia thought she was handling everything judiciously. She was also convinced she had an agreement
with Ingraham. She sold the foundry and
grove and packed her bags. And she left
Cleveland. On November 13,1881, Julia
arrived on a barge with her two children and all possessions. She moved into the Fort Dallas relic and
began converting it into a charming home
Months later, Ingraham and his men stumbled out of the Everglades. Julia wined and dined them and once again,
Ingraham promised to contact Julia as soon as he talked with Henry Plant.
A month after that, Julia got the bad news. Plant had rejected her offer. Julia was surprised—then flabbergasted—and
finally, heartbroken, but never discouraged.
Once again, Julia wrote letters to Flagler. Then she went to Palm Beach to see him. Nothing worked.
The winter of 1894-95 did for Julia Tuttle that which she
was unable to do for herself. A severe
deep freeze hit Florida, decimating not only the orange crop but also the trees
which were destroyed throughout Central Florida. And for a change, Mr. Flagler was paying
attention.
Once again, Julia went to Palm Beach, but this time, she
carried along a bouquet of orange blossoms to prove that the Miami Area had
been untouched by the deep freeze. And
Julia got two big surprises: first, she
was surprised to run into Ingraham ( of all people ) who, by now, was part of Flagler’s
organization and second, she was
delighted that Flagler apparently wanted to talk.
While they were waiting for Flagler, Ingraham explained his
own presence: “Some months ago in
Tampa,” he said, “and while I was waiting to see Mr. Plant, I got a call from
Mr. Flagler who invited me to come to Palm Beach for a visit “any time.”I
thanked him and promised I would visit Palm Beach someday. Later, I saw Mr. Plant and we quarreled about
the future of SFRR and suddenly, I just decided to resign and walk out. The next day, I visited Mr. Flagler and he
hired me.”
Let me explain: At
this moment, Ingram was probably “just a new man Flagler hired” but he and
Flagler were “getting along just fine” and Ingraham would soon become President
of the Model Land Company and be one of Mr. Flagler’s most powerful
employees. Now, let’s get back to our
story...
Julia Tuttle quickly realized that Flagler had a completely
different attitude . Was it the
newspaper reports he had been reading?
Or the bouquet of orange blossoms she brought him?” Or the “New
prospective” of James Ingraham? Historians have no clues to help answer the
question.. . . At the same time, many historians skip over a 4th
reason for Flagler’s newly expressed interest; All along, Flagler was thinking about THAT exclusive franchise he bought some years ago
which entitled him to receive from the Internal Improvement Fund lots for every
mile of tracts he laid south of St. Augustine—and all the way to the Miami
River. . .Then Flagler may also have had more second thoughts: prices of Florida real estate is
rising—because of what we are doing—so the lots we should be receiving are also
getting more valuable. . . and couldn’t we extend the contract from the Miami River all the way to Key
West.?
At any rate,—Flagler, Tuttle and Ingraham sat down to a
friendly—but serious-- talk. Finally, it
was decided that Ingraham should accompany Tuttle on her trip back to the Miami
Area and that Ingraham should prepare a
report for Flagler.
Of course, Ingraham had already prepared a report for Henry
Plant. But this wasn’t good enough for
Flagler. He wanted a report signed by
Ingrahm, as an employee of FECRR.
So Tuttle and Ingram went back to the Miami area, Ingraham
prepared his report and gave it to Flagler and Flagler decided he wanted to see
the Miami Area himself.
When Flagler arrived days later, with a small group, there
was little more than several dozen houses to show him. But Tuttle also took him to the Peacock Inn—the
only restaurant nearby that would rate as a restaurant. She showed him photographs that pioneer
photographer Ralph Monroe had taken of the area. And, finally, William Brickell
joined the group , sweetening the deal
by offering other lands south of the river and elsewhere. Flagler was impressed.
Several weeks later, Flagler arrived, with another small
group, to sign the agreement that created the embryo of today’s Greater
Miami. Unlike today’s documents for
equally significant events, drawn up by a battalion of lawyers, this was just a
simple statement, listing what each party agreed to.
Fortunately, Tuttle had had the land surveyed. She gave the survey to Flagler. He and the
group returned to Palm Beach and platted the entire area—first, the site for
the railroad station and the rights of way for tracts, then the rest of the
land in standard-sized city lots. The
lots were later divided by Flagler—then Tuttle, selecting alternate strips of lots
Flagler also agreed to pave all streets (for properties Mrs.
Tuttle kept as well as those owned by Flagler.
And he agreed to install curbs, gutters water mains, build a water plant
and a hotel.
On April 15, 1896, the first train with a wood-burning
engine chugged into the Miami Area. Flagler
planned a large celebration. And he
invited Plant. According to the
newspapers, Plant wired back, “Thanks.
But I wouldn’t know how to get there.”
Flagler, according to the newspapers, wired back directions,
“Just go to Jacksonville and follow the crowd.
This exchange made good news print—and lots of
conversations—whether or not it actually took place.
On July 28, 1896, the City was incorporated, a City Council, seated and the name “Miami”
adopted, all with 343 voters—many of them Flagler employees.
It is tragic that Julia Tuttle couldn’t live long enough to
see here dream come true—a dream of “ a large city rising from a jungle”--but
fate, at least, allowed her two years to see Miami off to a very good start. In the next two years, the Royal Palm Hotel
and several other hotels and a water plant were built,, streets were paved,
lots of new people arrived and the new city got its first bank, telephone and
electric light companies, its first newspaper—The Metropolis, financed by
Flagler—and a department store.
Of course, Miami also “enjoyed” its first real estate
boom. Only blocks from the Royal Palm
Hotel, developers had constructed poorly
designed wood buildings to house Miami’s first businesses. Then on Christmas Morning, 1896 a fire broke
out in Brady’s Grocery. The flames
spread. The entire town—including Julia
Tuttle, her son and daughter—turned out to fight the blaze. They were not successful. Twenty eight businesses were lost.
Miami still recovered.
Soon, new residents, with architects were planning beautiful buildings
to occupy the burned-out areas. Soon
Henry Flagler recognized the need for many things—schools, public
buildings, churches and a hospital. Flagler provided land for the first school
and built the building. He also gave the
City land for City Hall and to a new woman’s club, the land on Bayshore Drive
for their building.
Julia Tuttle, an Episcopalian, became concerned that the nearest
Episcopal church was in Coconut Grove.
Back then, that was miles away.
So she donated a lot on Bayshore. Drive.
And a fast-growing congregation finally built a charming little frame building called Trinity
Episcopal Church. In the 1920’s, this building
was replaced by today’s magnificent Italian Gothic Episcopal Cathedral.
Finally, Henry Flagler realized “his” town needed a doctor
and a hospital. Of course, his railroad
already had a doctor, Dr. James Jackson, So Flagler got another doctor for his
railroad, sent Jackson to Miami and built a building for him. Years later, that building was restored,
moved to the campus of Jackson Memorial Hospital and named “The Alamo.
While all these things were happening, Mrs. Julia DeForest
Sturtevent Tuttle fell ill. Her trouble
was diagnosed as meningitis. Her children made plans to move her to Ashville,
North Carolina. And Henry Flagler
dispatched a special railroad car for the trip. But her condition
worsened. She couldn’t make the move. And she died September 14, 1898.
The entire new city turned out for the funeral. She was the 6th person to be
buried in the new cemetery and, of course,
she has a special place of honor there. She is honored also by the Julia Tuttle Causeway and by a statue in Bayfront Park—and
especially, by a posterity that will know her as “The Mother of Miami. And at
least she saw 2 very active years when her dreams started to fall in place.
In the mean time, the two areas—Miami and Palm Beach—were
booming, the newspapers were specula-
ting—“What will Mr. Flagler Do Next/a.” And Henry decided it was time for him to get
all his own affairs in good shape. First,
he put civil engineers to work
for a feasibility study. He wanted to know “everything” about a
possible railroad to Key West. Second,
he wanted to severe his connections with Standard Oil. “and third, he wanted a divorce from Alice. All three turned out to be more complicated
than he had thought.
Alice already had been declared several years before as a “chronic
delusional insane person.”She already had guardians appointed by the courts. And
Henry had already put in trust many millions of dollars of securities to take
care of her years past her life expectancy..
But New York Laws did not include insanity as a ground for divorce.
Henry immediately changed his residency to Florida, then he sought
in the Florida Legislature some changes in Florida’s laws—changes that then,
passed and were signed by the governor. At this point, Henry filed for a divorce and the
newspapers of Florida had a field day which continued for weeks.
The divorce was granted August 13, 1901
In the mean time, the divorced Mrs. Flagler
was submerged in her own delusions with no thoughts of her own wealth,
her relatives or friends (Physically,
she was in good health—until July 10,1930 when she died of a cerebral hemorrhage)
Seven days after the divorce was granted, however—and on
August21, 1901—newspapers had another field day, announcing Mr. Henry M.
Flagler’s engagement to Miss Mary Lily Kenan.
The newspapers gleefully pointed out that this was a match
between the twice-married,
seventy-one-year old Flagler and a thirty-four-year old North Carolina
belle. The papers identified the Kenan
family as “large and old and distinguished”
The public got the idea the Kenans didn’t have a lot of money. It wasn’t necessary to tell anyone that Mr.
Flagler had a lot of money.
The Kenan Family had a suggestion: If Henry released information on Alice, the public—and the newspapers might be
satisfied. So Henry listed the various securities that the trustees had , their
income and total sanitarium expenses,
and these were published in the newspapers. The annual income from the
securities was $120,000; Alice’s
expenses at the sanitarium were $15,600 per year But both—the newspapers and public
wanted still more information.
Winding up Henry’ relations with Standard Oil were also
involved. More than anything else, Henry
wanted to keep his good relations with John D. Rockerfeller and that was
accomplished—however, when Henry started building the Ponce de Leon Hotel,
Rockefeller brought John Dustin Archebold into the
Company to take over Henry’s jobs. For a while, the Federal government still-
required Henry testify several times
about Standard Oil; This stopped in 1892
when the Standard Oil Trust was dissolved by the U. S. Supreme Court.. And Henry
kept for a while his Standard Oil Company office, with a secretary, at 140 Pearl Street
in New York. After all, he was the Vice
President until 1908 and a member of the Board of Directors until 1911
Henry’s last railroad construction was the overseas
extension from Miami to Key West. It was also his most expensive and most
daring—and possibly the one that got the most public attention.
The project cost $20,000,000, it operated for somewhat more
than twenty years, but it was never a paying proposition. It still aroused Flagler friends who
advised him against building the extension and Flagler
critics who chided him for spending so much.
In the end, his desire to have a magnificent monument to his achievement
prompted him to go ahead.
Flagler was growing old when he started the extension. And
he had already spent a fortune on Florida.
It was unusual for a man of his age and under the circumstances
to attempt such a mission. However, and as the road neared completion, he became
even more interested in seeing it completed. And his employees were spurred on
to do almost super-natural thing to please the boss.
The idea of a railroad from Florida to Key West was nothing
new. Back in 1831, s Key West newspaper suggested such a project in its report
to Congress. In the 1890’s, Florida’s
Internal Improvement Fund hired engineers to study such a product. The residents of Key West were among the most
enthusiastic. And the farmers of South
Dade promoted the idea: it would make easier—and less expensive-- shipping
their products elsewhere.
Flagler was in no hurry.
He wanted to know everything he needed to know. But he was also
listening to all the conversation about the Panama Canal, trade with Central
America and Key West becoming a major city and he built his first hotel outside
of America—the British Colonial in Nassau.
By the fall of1904,
Henry became serious about building the extension. And at the same time, he began building
tracks south from Miami, through farm lands.
But he was undecided about the route
Should his railroad tracts run from Homestead south and a little east to
Key Largo or should they run due west to Cape Sable. After much study, they
selected the Key Largo route.
Some of the other problems were even more troublesome and
expensive. There was the problem of
labor—the need for adequate supplies of drinking water—getting numerous new
equipment—the weather—and providing living quarters for the workmen. And how to
span large areas of deep water with tremendous currents..And what about
hurricanes? In 1904, there was one
hurricane; in 1906, there were 2; in
1910, there was 1.
From the start, the objective was to complete the 156 miles
of track by January 2, 1912 as a Birthday present for Henry Flagler. They didn’t quite make it. On the 2nd, there was still some work to
finish—and some inspections to make. Mr. Flagler was 82 on that date.
Two weeks later—on the afternoon of January 21, 1912, the
bridge foreman closed the cross-over span at Knights Key trestle. It was the last link in the line connecting
the Overseas Road with the mainland.
Soon a pilot train rushed down the tacks. When it reported the entire road was in prime
condition, the second wood-burning
engine with Mr. Flagler’s private car and several hundred VIPs headed for Key
West.
The first official train to cross the extension arrived at
Key West on January 22, 1912 at 10;43 A. M.
Ten thousand residents of Key West plus thousands from elsewhere waiting. Some of the crowd had never before seen a
locomotive, They all cheered and threw
up balloons. The Miami Herald enthusiastically
led termed the event” The Eighth Wonder of the World.”
Other “First Trains” arrived after in the day. The Celebrations continued for three days
including bands, coral
groups from Key West and Miami and speeches by Key West Mayor J. N. Fogarty,
Governor Grover Gilcrist of Florida, Robert Shaw Oliver, Secretary of War, representing
President William Howard Taft, General
Jose Marti, representing President Gomez of Cuba.
For the first ceremonies, Flagler found his way to the
observation platform. At first, he enthusiastically
greeted people, but his eyes soon seemed to blur and someone
brought a seat for him to sit. With his last big job completed, he could relax
But Key Wet did not grow into the great city that so many
had expected back then. And the Key West
Extension never got the business that
Flagler had expected.
On Labor Day, 1935, a strong hurricane lashed the Florida
Keys. Miles of embankment were washed
away. And the track in many areas was
left torn and twisted. The Florida East Coast Railroad had survived the Depression
but it could not afford to make the repairs.
The State of Florid decided it would buy the railroad and it
built the Overseas Highway.
Fortunately for Mr. Flagler, he did not live to know these
last 2 events. In 1913 he fell down the
marble steps at Whitehall, never recovered from the fall and died on May 20th.
Fortunately also, he had had nearly 13 happy yeas of married
life with Mary Lily Kenan family. Together
they enjoyed the social life that he had enjoyed with Mary Flagler and wanted
to find the same enjoyment with his second wife. One of the many accomplishments of the era
was Henry’s joining with the Kenan family for spectacular gifts to the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where today, the top-ranked Kenan-Flagler Business School is named in their honor; the magnificent Kenan Football Stadium is named
for the family, including William Kenan, one of Henry Flagler’s engineers.
Mary Lily Kenan Flagler had problems after Henry died and
she married a supposed “old Friend”, Robert Worth Bingham who used an inheritance
from her to buy the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper. In the 1980’s, following her death and
attempts by the Bingham family to sell the newspaper, several books surfaced,
questioning whether Mary Lily died a normal death—or was it murder?
Henry Flagler is entombed in the Flagler family mausoleum at
the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine along with his first wife.
In 1918 when Miami City Commissioner Joseph F. Chaille was
figuring out the quadrant system we use today, he decided the street, then known as 12h street, was a good street to
separate north from south
And it would probably be our main street—so he renamed it “Flagler”
in memory of Henry Flagler. During the
Boom Years of the 1920’s developer Carl Fisher dredged up an island in Biscayne
Bay between the McArthur and Venetian Causeway and put a Flagler memorial on it. In St Augustine, there is a statue of Flagler
in front of the Flagler College—formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel. There is also a Flagler Hospital in St.
Augustine, a Flagler County, Florida, a
Flagler Beach, Florida. And a Flagler,. Colorado.
In Palm Beach, Henry’s residence, is open to the public as
the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum and his private railcar No. 91 is preserved in
side a Beaux Arts pavilion to built to look
like a 19th century railway
palace.
Note; the next post
well be “WHY DO THEY CALL IT CORAL GABLES?”
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