Flagler's Florida Teacher's Guide Professional Development
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Flagler’s Florida Teacher’s Guide Professional Development Whitehall was the winter home of Henry Flagler, a leading figure of America’s Gilded Age. Henry Flagler was a founding partner of Standard Oil, the most profitable corporation in history. Later in life, Henry Flagler saw opportunity for growth in Florida and developed the state’s tourism, agriculture, and transportation. It would no be an exaggeration to say that Henry Flagler literally invented modern Florida. Henry Flagler and His Time • Henry Morrison Flagler was born in Hopewell, NY on January 2, 1830, he was the son of Reverend Isaac and Elizabeth Caldwell Harkness Flagler. • Flagler left home in 1844 at the age of 14 after completing the eighth grade and headed west to Ohio to seek his fortune. • In the 1840s an eighth-grade education may have included classes that today people take in college, including Greek mythology and Latin. • Less than half the children between the ages of five and 17 were enrolled in school and fewer than 2% received high school diplomas. Henry Flagler’s education gave him an advantage in his successful business career. • Henry Flagler began his business career with an entry-level job in a grain store in Bellevue, Ohio. He worked at L.G. Harkness and Company where he learned the grain Young Henry Flagler, circa 1850. business quickly. Henry Flagler and His Time • The company promoted Henry Flagler to its sales staff in 1849. He earned $400 per year which is equivalent to about $10,000 in today's dollars. • In 1852, Henry Flagler and his half-brother, Daniel Harkness, became partners in D.M. Harkness and Company. • The following year, November 9, 1853, Flagler married Mary Harkness. Together they had 3 children, Jennie Louise, Carrie, and Harry. Henry Flagler with Mary and Isabella Harkness. Henry Flagler and American Business • When the Civil War ended in 1865 it was a good time for Americans to start new businesses. • The money that had been put toward fighting the War could now be used toward growing the nation. • All this money helped to launch America as an industrial nation that produced wealth among the business class. • The idea of such a wealthy business class was new to people all over the world. • Before the Gilded Age, (1865-1929) most businesses in the United States were small and run by individuals or groups of individuals called partners. Captains of Industry and Commerce, from top: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Flagler. Gilded Age Business Leaders Built Opportunities • Business practices changed when states passed laws allowing businesses to incorporate more easily. • The invention of the corporation greatly reduced the risk for individual investors. • Corporations could sell their stocks and bonds and this helped raise large sums of money from many investors so that large projects could be undertaken. • Limiting and spreading of risk helped to create large businesses. • Standard Oil began as a partnership but soon incorporated and quickly grew into the nation’s largest and most profitable corporation. • Henry Flagler was a founding partner in Standard Oil with John D. Rockefeller. For more information on Gilded Age Corporations, see Flagler’s Florida NIE Tab, p. 6 There was Nothing Standard About Standard Oil • America’s economy became based more on capitalism. • Capitalism is an economic system in which a product or service is sold by either an individual or corporation that competes in a free market place for the purpose of earning money. • Capitalism affected everything from the way workers earned a living to how they spent their incomes as consumers. From top left: New York Stock Exchange, Standard Oil Trust Stock Certificate, leisure during the Gilded Age Henry Flagler - Inventor of Modern Florida • During the Gilded Age, new technology and wealth gave Americans more time to enjoy leisure activities. • The Gilded Age gave people more time for travel and vacations. • The tropical climate and many beaches made Florida a perfect place to bring people for rest and relaxation. From top right: Young women at The Breakers, Hotel Ponce de Leon, A group of young men and women enjoy boating in Florida. Flagler’s Hotels • In 1878, when Henry Flagler first traveled to Florida, there were no modern hotels for successful businessmen and their families, so Henry Flagler decided to build his own modern, luxury hotel. • Henry Flagler made sure that the hotels he built had all the modern conveniences of the time. He believed in offering people the latest in technology, such as electricity. • In 1888, electricity was installed throughout the Hotel Ponce de Leon. The first home in America had been lit by electricity only three years earlier, in 1885. Clockwise from top left: Hotel Alcazar, Hotel Ormond, Hotel Cordova, and Hotel Royal Poinciana. The Florida East Coast Railway • When Florida became a state in 1845, the population was less than 60,000, and Key West was the largest city. • During America’s Gilded Age, Henry Flagler built a railroad that ran from Jacksonville to Key West , and turned Florida into a tourist destination and one of the nation’s biggest agricultural states. As a result, Florida’s population exploded. By the time Henry Flagler died in 1913, the population was more than 800,000, 12 times larger than when the state was founded. Left: Map of Florida East Coast Railway. Top right: FEC train crossing Knights Key Bridge. Right: First train arriving at Key West on January 12, 1912. Whitehall- Florida’s First Museum • Henry Flagler called on the same young architects, John Carrére and Thomas Hastings, who designed several of his hotels along Florida’s east coast, to design Whitehall. • Whitehall, like other Gilded Age homes, was built with the most modern technology of the time, including electric lights, central heat, and a telephone system. • The Flaglers hosted exquisite social affairs in Palm Beach at Whitehall, including the first grand ball, the Bal Poudre, or Powdered Wig Ball, in honor of the Nation’s first President, George Washington. Clockwise from top: Music Room, Library, Bal Poudre, 1913 in Ball Room. Henry Morrison Flagler Museum In 1925, a 10-story tower of 300 rooms was added to Whitehall, and it was converted to a luxury hotel. In 1959, Jean Flagler Matthews, granddaughter of Henry Flagler, purchased the hotel and established a nonprofit educational corporation, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. The hotel addition was demolished, and the house was restored to its original condition. The Museum is open year-round and offers audio, docent-led or self- guided tours to visitors daily. Visitors may also explore the Flagler Museum’s changing exhibit gallery. Above: Flagler Museum Founder, Jean Flagler Matthews. Right: Flagler Museum and Flagler Kenan Pavilion. The Legacy of Henry Flagler and the Gilded Age Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway connected the entire east coast of Florida. The luxury hotels he built created Florida’s tourism industry. Henry Flagler’s dedication to the agricultural development of Florida established the State’s agriculture industry. Almost a century after Henry Flagler’s death, memorials to him will continue to remind future generations of his innovative spirit and importance to our state and national history. Left to right: Colonel G. F. Robert Hanke, great-grandson of Henry Flagler, dedicated the Miami statue on July 28, 2006, Flagler Island and Monument, Flagler statue dedication, 1916, and Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, St. Augustine. .