Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
A memorial was built by the Works Progress Administration in memory of the victims, atop a crypt containing the remains and ashes of about three hundred. The structure, in Islamorada at MM 81.5, was unveiled before a crowd of five thousand on November 14, 1937, by nine-year-old hurricane survivor Fay Marie Parker. “Dedicated to the memory of the ci
... See moreLes Standiford • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
were a storm as powerful as the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 to strike Key West today, they say, the 22,000-person island would likely be wiped as clean of life and property as the Matecumbes were years ago. Were such a storm to strike a major population center such as Miami, property damage would likely outstrip Andrew one hundred times over.)
Les Standiford • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the deadliest in history, with some eight thousand lives claimed, packed winds in the 150-mile-per-hour range; while Andrew, in 1992, the costliest hurricane in history, with $25 billion in damages, was also officially labeled a Category 4, 155-mile-per-hour storm. Given what was coming at them on Labor Day of 1935,
... See moreLes Standiford • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
The official Red Cross death toll was 408, but most agreed that the official count was low, that the final tally would never be known, owing to an uncertain Keys census and a general laxity in FERA’s record keeping. The Islamorada coroner put the figure at 423, but many informed estimates quickly suggested the total was over 600, for many bodies of
... See moreLes Standiford • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America
amazon.com
On February 15, 1898, scarcely a month after the Royal Palm opened its doors for a second season, the USS Maine, stationed in Havana harbor ostensibly to protect American interests against the incursion of Spanish colonialists, was blown up and sunk. While historians still debate whether or not the catastrophe was a put-up job, “…
Some highlights ha
Les Standiford • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean
Flagler poured his own money into an extensive program of public works, giving employment to a sizable labor force engaged in road and sidewalk building, port improvements, and the expansion of health-care facilities. By the spring of 1900 the epidemic had been controlled, and the quarantine lifted. Miami was on the road to a startling recovery: ne
... See more