May 20, 1913: Henry Morrison Flagler dies in Palm Beach
No single person was as important to the development of modern Florida as Henry Morrison Flagler. By building hotels in St. Augustine, Palm Beach and Miami, he made it fashionable for rich northerners to bask in the warmth of Florida during the winter.
By financing construction of the Florida East Coast Railway, he made it possible for cities to grow along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Because of the railroad, crops could be raised and shipped, building materials could be hauled, and people -- tourists, workers, and residents -- could be shuttled to what was mostly mosquito-ridden scrubland little more than a century ago. Flagler, a moderately successful grain and salt merchant early in his career, amassed his fortune as the oil industry was beginning to fuel the industrialization of America. Flagler and his partners, including John D. Rockefeller, founded Standard Oil in 1870, when Flagler was 40. Within five years, the company moved its headquarters to New York City and Flagler moved to a new home on Fifth Avenue. He first came to Jacksonville, Florida, after his wife Mary became ill in 1878. After she died, Flagler remarried and in 1885 began building the 540-room Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine. He built a second hotel and purchased yet another in the city. He purchased a regional railroad serving northern Florida to support his hotel business, built a railroad bridge over the St. Johns River and bought the Ormond Hotel just north of Daytona. In 1894, he built the Hotel Royal Poinciana in Palm Beach on the shore of Lake Worth and extended his railroad south to West Palm Beach. |
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Landowners further south coveted the growth brought by that railroad, and after a severe freeze in the winter of 1894-95 killed crops as far south as West Palm Beach, Flagler accepted offers of land in exchange for extending the railroad south to Biscayne Bay in Miami.
More hotels followed: the Palm Beach Inn (which became The Breakers) in Palm Beach, and the Hotel Royal Palm in Miami.
Flagler financed Miami's first newspaper, The Metropolis, which chronicalled growth so rapid it had to have happened by magic. So Miami became known as "The Magic City."
In 1902, Flagler built a 100,000-square foot mansion in Palm Beach as a gift for his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan. He called it the Whitehall.
As the U.S. embarked upon the Panama Canal project in 1905, Flagler decided to extend the railway to the nation's southernmost city, Key West, to take advantage of increased trade between the U.S. and Latin America made possible by the canal.
Completed seven years later in 1912, the Over Sea Railroad to Key West was the most largest engineering project ever completed by a private citizen.
Little more than a year later, Flagler fell down a flight of stairs at the Whitehall and never recovered from his injuries, dying on May 20, 1913 at age 83. He was buried in St. Augustine next to his two daughters, Jennie Louise and Carrie, and his first wife, Mary Harkness.
The Whitehall became The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in 1960 after the mansion was purchased by a non-profit corporation founded by one of Henry Flagler's granddaughters, Jean Flagler Matthews. It is on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks and is the setting for numerous galas and balls every year. Open to the public, the museum also features guided tours, exhibits and special programs.
The museum offers an opportunity for visitors to further explore Henry Flagler's legacy as the architect of modern Florida.
More hotels followed: the Palm Beach Inn (which became The Breakers) in Palm Beach, and the Hotel Royal Palm in Miami.
Flagler financed Miami's first newspaper, The Metropolis, which chronicalled growth so rapid it had to have happened by magic. So Miami became known as "The Magic City."
In 1902, Flagler built a 100,000-square foot mansion in Palm Beach as a gift for his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan. He called it the Whitehall.
As the U.S. embarked upon the Panama Canal project in 1905, Flagler decided to extend the railway to the nation's southernmost city, Key West, to take advantage of increased trade between the U.S. and Latin America made possible by the canal.
Completed seven years later in 1912, the Over Sea Railroad to Key West was the most largest engineering project ever completed by a private citizen.
Little more than a year later, Flagler fell down a flight of stairs at the Whitehall and never recovered from his injuries, dying on May 20, 1913 at age 83. He was buried in St. Augustine next to his two daughters, Jennie Louise and Carrie, and his first wife, Mary Harkness.
The Whitehall became The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in 1960 after the mansion was purchased by a non-profit corporation founded by one of Henry Flagler's granddaughters, Jean Flagler Matthews. It is on the National Registry of Historic Landmarks and is the setting for numerous galas and balls every year. Open to the public, the museum also features guided tours, exhibits and special programs.
The museum offers an opportunity for visitors to further explore Henry Flagler's legacy as the architect of modern Florida.
Read more:
• Read the story in the Miami Daily Metropolis:
Henry M. Flagler, Railroad Magnate, Died This Morning
• Explore the website of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum
• PBS' Henry Flagler biography page: Mr. Miami Beach
• Henry Flagler timeline from Palm Beach History Online
• Read the story in the Miami Daily Metropolis:
Henry M. Flagler, Railroad Magnate, Died This Morning
• Explore the website of the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum
• PBS' Henry Flagler biography page: Mr. Miami Beach
• Henry Flagler timeline from Palm Beach History Online