Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean

Following Hurricane Andrew’s assault on South Miami– Dade County in 1992, then-president George Bush flew over Homestead and its environs, and, even after that bird’s-eye view of things, returned to Washington, still undecided whether federal relief funds were truly necessary. Outraged community leaders demanded that Bush return for a street-level

Construction of the sixty-six-mile extension south from West Palm Beach was aided by a sizable contingent of convict labor leased to the Florida East Coast Railway at the rate of $2.50 a month. The company had to feed and house the men, but it was still an attractive deal when private labor might approach two dollars or more per day. The process to

There had been almost no railroad construction in Florida since the end of the Civil War. The aftermath of the conflict had sent most of the operators into bankruptcy and the ensuing litigation had tied up much of the state-owned right-of-way in court battles. The lines that did exist had been built without regulation and with no regard for consist

In all, Coe would be responsible for fifteen major bridges on the Extension, as well as twelve miles of permanent trestlework. But the relocation of the displaced pier and the completion of the bridge at Bahia Honda meant that the last of the great challenges had been met and that what had once been the purest of fancies was about to materialize at

The few hardy settlers who lived there near the turn of the century had been enticed by land speculation syndicates at work everywhere in the wild southern half of Florida, groups of businessmen who stood to make their fortunes by seeing such frontier lands settled. Those who moved to Fort Dallas to seek their fortunes were interested in encouragin

On the journey, Flagler brought along his hotel designers, as well as his chief of railroad operations, Joseph Parrott. By the time Flagler and his men stepped down from the carriage into the balmy moonlight and gazed out over the placid waters of Biscayne Bay, it is likely that his mind was already made up. In short order, he struck the deal that

In any case, seven days after his filing, Flagler’s engagement to Mary Lily was announced in newspapers throughout the South. Flagler was seventy-one, Mary Lily Kenan was thirty-four, and the public and press reacted accordingly.

There’s no way to fathom how much of this had passed through his mind that day, but on his way off the platform Flagler placed a hand on Parrott’s shoulder and whispered, “Now I can die happy. My dream is fulfilled.”

Flagler’s official announcement that he intended to ride his own “iron” across the Straits of Florida to Key West did not come until July of 1905, but it seems clear that he had been destined to make the attempt from the midsummer of 1898, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War.