St. Augustine is to Henry Flagler as feathers are to an eagle. His mark is everywhere in this, the oldest town in the USA.
St Augustine was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a Spanish explorer. Perhaps better known in the early days of St. Augustine’s existence is Ponce de Leon, another Spaniard, who came ashore somewhat later and searched for the fountain of youth. There is a tourist attraction in St. Augustine called “The Fountain of Youth,” which a tourist can visit which deals with that story.
The city of St. Augustine was sighted by Menendez de Aviles on August 28 the feast day of Augustine of Hippo, hence the name. It is the longest continuously occupied city in the USA. It’s still a small town with a population, according to the 2010 census, of 12,975.
The Spaniards built missions all the way up the east coast and throughout Florida exactly as they did in California. Indeed one of these missions was no more than a day’s walk from the settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. According to Jay Humphries of the St. Augustine Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, “There is a report of settlers in Jamestown being astonished that some of the native Americans near Jamestown spoke Spanish!”
Spain owned Florida off and on until 1822 when it was ceded to the US by the Adams-Onis Treaty. Florida was largely ignored by Washington and even though it has become a vacation and retirement destination in the last century it wasn’t much on the map in the 19th century, at least not until Henry Flagler arrived.
Flagler was an original partner with John D Rockefeller in Standard Oil. So this was a powerful and very rich man. He arrived in Florida with his first wife in 1878 who was ill. He was looking for warm climes to help with an illness which eventually killed his wife, Mary. She died in 1881. He arrived in St. Augustine that year and found the town intriguing but with inadequate hotel and transportation facilities.
Flagler decided to remedy this. He built a hotel in St. Augustine that would equal any of the grand hotels then being built in New York and along the northern part of the US. He bought land near the border of St. Augustine and began construction on the 450 room Hotel Ponce de Leon.
The Ponce de Leon was quite a hotel. Each room came with a butler, hired for the winter season and one could only reserve a room there for the three month season in its entirety. The dining room had 79 windows made by Tiffany, the largest collection in their original location in the world. At the time the hotel opened the room fees went from $6 a night upwards. One had a seat in the dining room assigned for the whole winter season. The hotel was a Victorian masterpiece.
In order to bring visitors to St Augustine, Flagler built a railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway, from New York to Florida. It opened on January 10, 1884. Shortly after the building of the Ponce de Leon Hotel, Flagler’s daughter died and wanting to build a memorial to her, Flagler built the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, a building which still stands and is the location of his, his wife Mary’s, his daughter’s and granddaughter’s tombs.
Shortly after Flagler completed the Hotel Ponce de Leon across the street Franklin Smith completed work on another hotel, the Casa Monica, another luxury hotel, named after Monica the mother of St. Augustine. Smith had a problem. The furniture for the hotel had not arrived and he had only three guests when the hotel opened. The furniture was to have arrived by the Henry Flagler-owned railroad.
When the furniture failed to arrive after three months Smith sold the hotel to Flagler for $385,000, which was what Smith owed on the completion of the Casa Monica. Somehow, just after Flagler purchased the hotel the furniture magically arrived. Flagler now became a fledgling Florida hotel magnate. He immediately changed the name of the Casa Monica to the Hotel Cordova and, with his train line, turned it into a success. Perhaps not the most ethical tale from Flagler’s point of view, but a reflection of the hard knuckle way that business was done in the late 19th century.
Flagler also built a hospital in St. Augustine, which he donated to the city. Some of these building projects are still standing in St. Augustine and one can see them today. Hotel Alcazar, which was slightly less grand was built across the street from the Hotel Ponce de Leon and opened in 1889 and contained a turkish bath, a swimming pool, a casino, tennis courts and a restaurant as well as guest rooms. These amenities were used by guests in all three hotels.
He also built Grace United Methodist Church, Memorial Presbyterian Church, provided funds to rebuild the Cathedral Basilica, The Alicia Hospital and the City Building, He provided funds for the Ancient City Baptist Church. The Hotel Ponce De Leon still stands and in 1968 it became an independent liberal arts school, Flagler College. The school gives a vivacity to the city. There are students everywhere in St. Augustine. The Memorial Presbyterian Church still stands in St. Augustine as well. It’s an elegant piece of architecture.
So, Henry Morrison Flagler’s shadow still rests in St. Augustine. He was a 19th Century visitor but he made his mark and it’s still present there. Leslee Keys, who oversees the preservation of the Flagler campus says, “His impact was profound and is still felt today.”
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