Highlights
Henry Morrison Flagler, born Jan. 2, 1830, was an American oil tycoon, hotelier and railroad developer. He played a key role in the growth of Florida's eastern coast and was the founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, which eventually extended from Jacksonville down to Key West and connected the state. Born in New York as the son of a poor minister, Flagler went on to make his fortune as an oil tycoon in Ohio. He partnered with John D. Rockefeller to create the Standard Oil Company. Henry Flagler is also very well known for his resort hotels and railroads in Florida. In 1878, he traveled to Jacksonville for the winter with his sickly first wife Mary (Harkness) Flagler. Two years after s...
Henry Morrison Flagler, born Jan. 2, 1830, was an American oil tycoon, hotelier and railroad developer. He played a key role in the growth of Florida's eastern coast and was the founder of the Florida East Coast Railway, which eventually extended from Jacksonville down to Key West and connected the state. Born in New York as the son of a poor minister, Flagler went on to make his fortune as an oil tycoon in Ohio. He partnered with John D. Rockefeller to create the Standard Oil Company. Henry Flagler is also very well known for his resort hotels and railroads in Florida. In 1878, he traveled to Jacksonville for the winter with his sickly first wife Mary (Harkness) Flagler. Two years after she died in 1881, he married Ida Alice Shourds. The two traveled to St. Augustine after their wedding. This visit was when Flagler realized Florida's potential as an out-of-state visitor hub. However, hotels and transportation were seriously lacking. In 1885, Flagler began building his first hotel, the 540-room Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine. Completed three years later, this project sparked Flager's interest in creating a new "American Riviera." His first step was to create a better transportation system in the state. Flagler bought the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax Railroad, the first railroad in what would become known as the "Flagler System" or the Florida East Coast Railway. By 1894, Henry Flagler completed the 1,100-room Royal Poinciana Hotel - the largest wooden structure in the world at the time -- in Lake Worth and extended his railroad to service West Palm Beach. A couple of years later he built the Palm Beach Inn, which would in 1901 become The Breakers Hotel. By this time Flagler's railway reached all the way to Biscayne Bay, and, in 1897, he opened the exclusive Royal Palm Hotel in Miami. In the following years Flagler extended his Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a point 128 miles past the end of the Florida peninsula. Henry Flagler's life took a turn for the worse when he fell down a flight of stairs at his Palm Beach estate, the famous Whitehall mansion, in 1913. He never recovered from the fall and died in Palm Beach of his injuries on May 20. He was 83 years old. Flagler was buried in St. Augustine alongside his daughter, Jenny Louise and first wife, Mary Harkness.
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Top 20 Local Family Fun Spots
Perhaps your parents read South Florida Parenting 20 years ago. Now you have a family of your own. Do you remember hula dancing at the Mai-Kai as an uninhibited child? It’s still there. Take a walk down Memory Lane to revisit attractions you loved as a...Tags: Juno Beach, Adults, Broward County, Hospitals and Clinics, Miami-Dade County
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At Orlando Museum of Art, great American artists capture Florida's past in paint
At the Orlando Museum of Art through mid-July, you can take a visual trip through Florida's history with some of America's finest artists as your guides. The exhibition titled "Reflections: Paintings of Florida, 1865-1965, from the Collection of Cici and...
Tags: Maitland Art Center, Science and Technology, Ernest Hemingway, Florida Legislature, Entertainment Events
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Chan Lowe: Broward's "Best Building"
In this morning’s Sun Sentinel, my colleague Robert Nolin wrote of a “Best Building” contest sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, wherein signature buildings from each county in Florida would be voted on to comprise a...
Tags: Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Arts and Culture, Architecture, Palm Beach County
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Events mark Flagler railroad's Key West milestone
It's only a week until the 100th anniversary of the inaugural journey of Henry Flagler's Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad, which arrived for the first time in Key West on Jan. 22, 1912.
The celebration will be in full swing this week in the Florida Keys,...Tags: Travel, Transportation, Railway Transportation, Ernest Hemingway, Florida East Coast Railway
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When snowbirds clear out of Palm Beach, there's still plenty of fun to be had
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Many of the waterfront mansions are shuttered for the season, and there are few yachts at the private docks along the Intracoastal. The theater season doesn't start until late October, concerts and art exhibits at the Society...Tags: Cycling, Fine Arts, Star Wars (movie), Labor Day, Arts and Culture
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Go tropical for the holidays with these events in the Florida Keys
Unless something really goes crazy, it won't be a white Christmas in Florida, but the Sunshine State still offers unique opportunities to celebrate the holidays in a tropical way.
In the Florida Keys and Key West, the latter only about 90 miles north...Tags: Travel, Christmas, Holidays, Family, Arts and Culture
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Sunshine State charms: 21 things to do on your Florida vacation
Some of the best attractions in Florida — the beaches, sunsets and environmental gems — remain blissfully unchanged over time. Yet there are always new diversions, from museums and attractions to quirky stops that shout "only in Florida."...Tags: Fillmore Miami Beach, Salvador Dali, Star Wars (movie), Canoeing and Kayaking, University of Florida
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Savings card offers discounts at Palm Beach hotels
Postcards from FloridaHere's a deal if you're planning on staying at one of the more than 16,000 guest rooms throughout The Palm Beaches and Boca Raton this fall. An all-new, complimentary 2010 Savings Card is available on check-in to all overnight guests, and includes... -
Beat the heat in Florida? Museums are cool
No matter how the most optimistic among us might try to spin it, this Florida heat is tough to take when summer moves into the dog days.
Fortunately, the resourceful traveler knows there are cool things to do, literally, in the Sunshine State. So fold up...Tags: Science and Technology, Salvador Dali, Florida International University, Judaism, Book
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It's scary job, but somebody has to do it
Sentinel Staff WriterThink you have what it takes to be a professional in the scare business? Then Universal Orlando might be looking for you. Every Tuesday through Sept. 13, the theme park is holding casting calls for 1,000 performers to frighten visitors during Halloween...Tags: Theme Park Vacations, Religious Festivals, Holidays, Trips and Vacations, Air Transportation
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Bonnet House
South Florida Sun-SentinelTo get away from Chicago, Hugh Taylor Birch came to Florida, borrowed a boat from Henry Flagler in Palm Beach and started sailing down the state, said Patrick Shavloske, director of development for Bonnet House. The prominent Standard Oil Company...Tags: Death, Sports
Aug 24, 2012
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jun 3, 2012
|Column| Orlando Sentinel
Apr 3, 2012
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Feb 3, 2012
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jan 14, 2012
|Column| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 29, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Nov 12, 2011
|Column| Orlando Sentinel
May 14, 2011
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Sep 17, 2010
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Jul 11, 2010
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 22, 2005
|Story| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 3, 2006
|Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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