The grand marble building was named by the final Mrs. Flagler herself: "Whitehall." He was born in New York. In 1897, Flagler opened the exclusive Royal Palm Hotel on the north bank of the Miami River where it overlooked Biscayne Bay. Perhaps those years after the Civil War were what imbued Flagler with his infamously shrewd business practices. In general, government officials (especially Andrew Anderson) permitted Flagler to widen the roads and to dredge marshes to establish neighborhoods. When Mary contracted tuberculosis, at her doctor's recommendation they traveled . [3], Flagler attended local schools through eighth grade. Dan married Lamon's eldest daughter, Isabella, in 1849 (yes, they were first cousins). Soon after, though, Mary and Harry followed. All this is to say that the winter and spring of 1885 were life-changing for Henry Flagler and his circle. University Press of Florida. Flagler and Dan Harkness remained friends and business associates and, in 1852, they opened a distillery. As success quickly mounted for the young corporation, Flagler began to better provide for his family, moving them to Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Ida Alice Shourds became Ida Alice Shourds Flagler in June of 1883 and moved into the Flagler family home the day after their wedding. Bowman, Bryan & Kathy Roberts Forde. 0:58. By the end of this field trip, we hope will you have an understanding of who Henry Flagler was, and the great impact he had on the state of Florida! Graham, Thomas. In 1868, at age 37, Flagler joined with John Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews to form the Rockefeller, Andrews and Flagler Oil Refinery. Two years later, he expanded his Florida holdings. [23] The firm was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the antitrust movement. The hotel, the Ponce de Leon, was a success. Mary Flagler Cary (1901-1967) was the daughter of Harry Harkness Flagler, and granddaughter of Henry Morrison Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil. By 1880, according to the New York World, Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country. Col Henry Ostrom & Elizabeth Flagler? Hotel Ponce de Leon: The Architecture & Decoration. Municipal, State, and Federal government officials questioned how many limits they should place on these "Captains of Industry." From various newspapers, 1887 - 1895. Flagler went on to build the Memorial Presbyterian Church for Jennie and her baby daughter Margery in St. Augustine. Les Standiford (Goodreads Author) (shelved 3 times as henry-flagler) avg rating 4.08 3,518 ratings published 2002. For the train, see, Alleged use of convict leasing and debt peonage, Martin, p. 56, quoting Edwin Lefevre, in "Flagler and Florida" from, Joe Knetsch, "The Peonage Controversy and the Florida East Coast Railway,", University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "Madoff scandal stuns Palm Beach Jewish community", "292: Colonel Joseph D. Potts Leader in the Pennsylvania on LiveAuctioneers", "The Story of Convict Leasing in Florida", "Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes: Online Sunshine", "Slavery Revisited: Peonage in the South", "How slave labor built the state of Florida decades after the Civil War", "Abstracts of Reports of the Immigration Commission, Vol II", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Flagler&oldid=1125174074, Jennie Louise (March 18, 1855 March 25, 1889), Knetsch, Joe. During the early 1880s, Flagler outsourced the care of young Harry to his half-sister Carrie and daughter Jennie Louise. Sixty miles (97km) south, the area today known as Miami was reportedly unharmed by the freeze. Even more critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for illumination. As such, the salt industry was tax-exempt during the Civil War and essential employees were exempt from the draft. [52] A spouse's mental incapacity was later restored by the legislature as a grounds for dissolution of marriage, and remains the law of Florida today. If you ask the same question in Florida, most people will have known someone who lives on Flagler Blvd., in Flagler County, or down the road from the Flagler Museum. Rockefeller. "[38] Flagler and Rockefeller worked hard for their company to achieve such prominence. Henry Flagler, who was considered the "brain" Rockefeller "Standard Oil," better known perhaps as the creator of the "American Riviera" in Florida (Standiford, pp. Flagler and Rockefeller eventually prevailed and the railroad sold all its oil interests to Standard. Flagler completed the 1,100-room Royal Poinciana Hotel on the shores of Lake Worth in Palm Beach and extended his railroad to its service town, West Palm Beach, by 1894, founding Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. "Especially since her father would have never stepped foot in the house. You see, during the Gilded Age [and for far too long after it], women could be sent to a mental institution for just about anything. "[24] To the critics Flagler and Rockefeller replied, "In a business so large as ours some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. The current sanctuary building that is seen today was built in the late 1880s and early 1890s by gracious donations from Henry Morrison Flagler. After two years of institutionalization and much assessment by the courts, Ida Alice Shourds Flagler was legally ruled incurably insane in 1899. '"[42] Flagler served as an active part of Standard Oil until 1882, when he stepped back to take a secondary role at Standard Oil. It was due largely to the efforts of Henry M. Flagler and John D. [25] The "trust" was a corporation of corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. His mother, the widowed Elizabeth Caldwell (Morrison) Harkness, had brought two sons to the marriage with Flagler from her previous marriage to widower Dr. David Harkness of Milan, Ohio. Mary Lily Kenan Flagler inherited the majority of Henry Flagler's fortune but was unlucky enough to die of an apparent heart attack, only five years after Flagler's death. An incident that is commonly cited as being 'the straw that broke the camel's back' occurred on one of the Flaglers' expensive yachts (of which the couple had many the Alicia was even named after Ida Alice). Immediately, she began taking advantage of the fortune she had married into like any budding socialite, she loved gowns, jewelry, and yachts. [46], Realizing the need for a sound transportation system to support his hotel ventures, Flagler purchased short line railroads in what would later become known as the Florida East Coast Railway. In 1853, young Henry followed suit when Lamon Harkness' middle daughter, Mary, became his first wife. Now, imagine two hundred-plus years have passed. IT HAD BEGUN 26 YEARS EARLIER, IN 1891, when Henry Morrison Flagler, the uncrowned "king" of Florida, who had made a vast fortune as a founding partner of Standard Oil of Ohio, met Mary Lily Kenan . In just eighteen months of harried work and lavish spending, the Ponce de Leon Hotel was opened for business in January of 1888. Zacharra worked in England for several years before moving to Dutchess County, New York, in 1710. "[35], Flagler and Rockefeller continued to consolidate their oil interests as best they could until New Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company. Perhaps Henry Flagler already planned that he would need a physician to confirm his wife suffered from insanity. He was also a key figure in the development of the eastern coast of Florida along the Atlantic Ocean and was founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway. Knetsch concludes that "Flagler in fact provided health care for his employees and was a far better employer than the press alleged. APA: VisitStAugustine.com. Seven years later he became a senior salesman with a salary of $ 400 per year. In the early 1900s Flagler, affiliated with John D. Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Company, conceived and oversaw the construction of the Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad, paving . Along with cheques and stocks, Flagler also gifted his wife with a new estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Cutthroat Cruel business man. To add to the tragic circumstances, her baby daughter also died. Flagler gave them the honored center positions in the mausoleum. Flagler was in a special position to make those deals due to his connections as a grain merchant. She was the daughter of Lamon G. Harkness and Julia Follet. The church was dedicated in March 1890. MLA: VisitStAugustine.com. As elated as the couple was to meet their first and only son, her condition made planning for Harry's future feel disturbingly somber. "[63], Miami's main east-west street is named Flagler Street and is the main shopping street in Downtown Miami. His body was sent to St. Augustine on May 23 where he was laid to rest along side of his his first wife Mary Harkness in the Memorial Presbyterian Church mausoleum built for his daughter Jennie Louise. Expert Help. Her eldest daughter, Jennie Louise, was twenty- six. He would describe his childhood often as having been 'hungry and cold'. [14] Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. He never recovered and died in Palm Beach of his injuries on May 20, 1913 at 83 years of age. [20] The New York State Legislature's Hepburn Committee in 1879 conducted hearings in response to the complaints of local merchants that were not involved in the oil trade in order to investigate railroad rebate practices. [41] Standard Oil's combined assets equalled approximately $42,882,650 (equivalent to $1.29billion in 2021[6]) in Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. He also built the Alcazar Hotel as an overflow hotel for the Ponce de Leon Hotel. https://staughs.com/the-mary-lily-kenan-conspiracy/. However, this building's history is tragic and short. Nine trustees, including Rockefeller, ran the 41 companies in the trust. . Flagler's affiliation with the Harkness family would have a fortuitous effect upon his future. "Flagler's Magnificent Hotel Ponce de Leon," FL: The Florida Historical Quarterly, Issue 54, Volume 1. 1. An immense engineering effort was required to cut through the wilderness and marsh from St. Augustine to Palm Beach. Within six years, Henry was earning enough money to purchase a showy Victorian house in Bellevue. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press & Crown Publishers, 2002. "Our Own Riviera," Harper's New Monthly Magazine. "[59], In March 1913, Flagler fell down a flight of marble stairs at Whitehall. First A Little On Henry Flagler. The railroads were fighting fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company in collusion with Standard and other oil men outside the main oil centers. Flagler believed that he had learned a valuable lesson: invest in a business only after thorough investigation. In fact, after completing the eighth grade, he decided to leave home and went to Ohio to find his fortune. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. In 1882, Flagler and Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. As the 1870s progressed, Henry Flagler, John D. Rockefeller, and their families began to move from Cleveland to New York and back again about twice a year such were the demands of their beloved business. [33] Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state anti-trust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the trust. [62], Flagler was entombed in the Flagler family mausoleum at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine alongside his first wife, Mary Harkness; daughter, Jenny Louise; and granddaughter, Marjorie. Welcome to Ms. Collins, Ms. Bellino, and Ms. King's 4th grade history virtual fieldtrip! He is known as the father of Miami, Florida, and founded the city of Palm Beach. Mary Lily outlived her first husband, Henry Flagler and inherited his huge fortune, married again three years later, and died under suspicious circumstances at aged fifty. He used convict leasing "a method undertaken by the Southern States to replace the economic setup of slavery"[47] to modernize the existing railroads, allowing them to accommodate heavier loads and more traffic.[48]. [22] Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. Along with that, Henry Flagler being referred to as a 'Robber Baron' alongside businessmen like Carnegie and Rockefeller is no exaggeration. It is one of his most significant projects, because it was constructed as a memorial to Flagler's only daughter, Jenny. [citation needed], The Overseas Railroad, also known as the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. It was a small town of roughly 1,000 individuals, but familial connections led to a job at a general store. So, when sources from the time period say that Ida Alice Shourds Flagler was insane, one must look closely and think critically. However, Henry Flagler did not join his half-brother. "How Slave Labor Built the State of Florida Decades After the Civil War." Visually exquisite, the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church was built by Henry Flagler in 1889. Barely any of Ida Alice's personal writings have survived, so there is a major piece of the puzzle missing. In the springtime of 1870, Mary Harkness Flagler even became pregnant with the couple's third child (the aforementioned Henry "Harry" Flagler). By 1852, Henry had saved enough money to become the one-third-owner of the Harkness & Company alongside his half-brother Dan and Dan's uncle Lamon. Standard Oil also had the highest capitalization, totaling $26,000,000 (equivalent to $784million in 2021). Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 - May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil. The Bingham-Flagler marriage (and questions about her death or possible murder) figured prominently in several books that appeared in the 1980s, when the Bingham family sold the newspaper in the midst of great acrimony. In 1869, Henry Flagler began buying out small oil refineries on behalf of John D. Rockefeller, who had it in his mind to monopolize the oil industry in Ohio. "[57][58], According to historian Joe Knetsch, reformers and muckrakers exaggerated charges of peonage regarding construction of the Florida East Coast Railway in 1893 to 1909. As we know, Flagler's business activity in Florida had earned him the attention of the public as well as state officials. When the city was incorporated in 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for its growth by naming it "Flagler". His half-brother Daniel had left Hopewell to live and work with his paternal uncle Lamon G. Harkness, who had a store in Republic, Ohio. The Alcazar is today the Lightner Museum, next to the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine that Flagler bought from Franklin W. Smith. Perhaps fortunately for Smith, he couldn't come up with the funds,[45] so Flagler began construction of the 540-room Ponce de Leon Hotel by himself, but spent several times his original estimate. 0:00. The rumor mill suspected that this change in priorities was due to Henry's association with one Ida Alice Shourds a red-haired, green-eyed actress who was rumored to have been Mary Harkness Flagler's nursemaid during her final years. [13] Eventually, even former antagonists Pratt and Rogers saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil: in 1874, they made a secret agreement with their old nemesis to be acquired. "For the longest time, I could not imagine why Jean would save Whitehall," said Mr. Ponce. Resources Henry Flagler, son of a Presbyterian minister, had Memorial Presbyterian Church built in memory of his daughter Jennie Louise Flagler Benedict and her newborn daughter Margery, both of whom died in 1889. Franklin W. Smith had just finished building Villa Zorayda and Flagler offered to buy it for his honeymoon. Henry Morrison Flagler was born in Hopewell, New York on January 2nd, 1830 to Isaac Flagler and Elizabeth Caldwell Harkness Flagler. Layton, 33001, United States of America - Excellent location - show map. Here is a list of Flagler's hotels (that he either purchased or built) along Florida's east coast: To learn more about Henry Flagler's East Coast Railway, consult the 'Works Referenced' section at the end of this Historical Person profile. [39] According to Allan Nevins, in John D. 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