YOUR case is packed and you are Florida bound. For many, particularly families, ‘The Sunshine State’ is the ultimate holiday aspiration. They are doubtless lured by the sprawling campus of four Walt Disney theme parks, created from swampland just south of Orlando, where in 2019 just shy of 60 million people visited them. While the visionary creator died before he saw the project open in 1972, his legacy is an unprecedented global tourism machine.
But I would argue that Disney is not the father of Florida as a destination. If anyone deserves that title, industrialist and entrepreneur Henry Flagler must be in contention. Without him, the great East Coast resorts of Daytona Beach, Palm Beach and even Miami would not exist as they do today. The latter city would even bear his name were it not for his modesty, but you will find him commemorated on streets and businesses the entire length of the Atlantic Coast, his contribution to shaping modern Florida celebrated over hundreds of miles.
Flagler became a very rich man after co-founding the Standard Oil Company (part of which survives today as ExxonMobil) with John D Rockefeller in 1870. This article could never hope to be a biography, but very broadly his life story can be divided in two. The first half sees him build a business empire, while facing accusations of sharp practice and fighting political opposition. But he was undoubtedly savvy and driven, with even Rockefeller crediting Flagler as the brains behind Standard Oil.
In 1877, however, his first wife’s illness put his life on a new path. On doctor’s orders, he and his family travelled from their home in New York to Jacksonville (at the northern tip of Florida), where for the first time he experienced the warm climate and a reprieve from his business-driven life. After his wife’s death, Florida became the stage on which the second act of his life was played. Other wealthy people followed his path to the emerging state, and their patronage was key. Flagler built hotels to accommodate them, buying out, extending
