All Aboard Flaglers Dream

While visiting Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park I found the history on the Overseas Railroad to be amazing. This overseas railroad made it possible to reach new areas of Florida including Marathon Florida which where locals or tourists can visit this state park. Below reveals the story of Henry Flagler and his dream of creating an oversea railroad.

Henry Morrison Flagler born on January 2nd, 1830 in Hopewell, New York. Flagler was known for having a railroad named the Florida East Coast Railway which was used to connect Jacksonville to Miami which is much further south. This railway allowed new cities to be built along the way which are still occupied today. Flagler, having Manny resources due to his large amount of income from an Oil Company, was prepared for his biggest project. Flagler did not want to stop there and had a dream of building a railroad to Key West with the resources he had. Flagler faced negativity in the way that people believed it was not possible to construct a railroad over open water and reach the Key's. Flagler's dream required him to spend millions and a large crew of men who were willing to build his dream.

Image of Flagler's Railroad provided by floridastatepark.org

Flagler had a great challenge ahead of himself with Key West being 100 miles from the mainland. That also meant all equipment including the men themselves had to be brought by barges. The workers also were met with many problems such as storms, sun and insects.

Windley Quarry was actually one of the places where a bridge was built to fill in some of the space and also provided railroad beds for the track.

Shortly after Flagler’s 82nd birthday he was on the first train to Key West to celebrate his dream accomplishment. Sadly 16 months after that ride Flagler would die in Palm Beach. His dream remained open for 23 years. The train transported passengers, freshwater and Key Largo limestone or keystone.The railroad would face the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 destroying parts of the bridge causing too much damage for repair resulting in the closure of the railroad. Flagler has a museum named after him in Palm Beach, Florida. To learn more click here.

                                         

Pieces of Flagler’s Railroad image provided by me