[12], Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Flagler and Rockefeller continued with their self-reinforcing cycle of buying competing refiners, improving the efficiency of operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. [32] More threatening to Standard's power was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust. Day 2 - Flagler Legacy Tour - Flagler's Churches - St. Augustine Distillery - Dinner at Ice Plant Bar This morning after breakfast, meet your local guide for a Flagler Legacy Tour. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to facilitate the oil futures trading. However there were many reports harsh working conditions and forced indebtedness to the company, and malfeasance by labor agents who hired men for the railway. Dr. Shelton had attended Flagler's daughter Jennie Benedict when she died from complications after childbirth in 1889. Anderson owned a large tract of orange groves west of the Governor's House along King Street the main thoroughfare of St. Augustine and wanted to sell it to Flagler. Two years later, Flagler built the Palm Beach Inn (renamed The Breakers in 1901), overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Beach. Their efforts to monopolize the oil industry are referred to as the 'Cleveland Massacre,' and though John D. Rockefeller is generally more well-known than Henry Flagler, quotes from Rockefeller credit Flagler with the monopolization idea. The judge instructed the jury to find them not guilty because the "prosecution had failed to prove 'an agreement of minds with evil intent to conspire'. 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. the Trust and Non-Profit Organization established by Flagler's grand-daughter Jean Flagler Matthews, to preserve Whitehall, has . "The Flagler Pavilion was built across the street at Edgewood for the Flaglers' daughter Elizabeth's 1927 wedding to J. Andrews Harris lll," said Millbrook Historian David Greenwood. His project to connect the east coast of the United States from top to bottom was completed when the first Florida East Coast Railway car pulled into Key West in 1912. My 4th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Howes, married (1) William Jones (my ancestor) and (2nd) Colonel Henry Ostrom, of Pleasant Valley & Patterson, Dutchess County, NY. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and, to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost if necessary. The church was dedicated in March 1890. This conflict created a breach between father and son that lasted until Henry Flagler was on his deathbed. She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions. Last Train to Paradise. Les Standiford (Goodreads Author) (shelved 3 times as henry-flagler) avg rating 4.08 3,518 ratings published 2002. The Alcazar is today the Lightner Museum, next to the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine that Flagler bought from Franklin W. Smith. Eldest daughter Jennie Louise died when she was a young woman (more on her later). VisitStAugustine.com. 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. 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. [14] Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. Today, when you ask someone if they know about Henry Flagler, they are likely to answer with a shake of their head and a shrug. [33], Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Lily_Kenan_Flagler_Bingham&oldid=1125142626, This page was last edited on 2 December 2022, at 11:49. When he was 23, Flagler married Mary Harkness, a frail, 20-year-old cousin of Dan Harkness. A railroad and oil magnate who laid claim to Florida's east coast. 0:58. Chandler, David Leon. As a result, Flagler and Rockefeller and their associates owned dozens of separate corporations, each of which operated in just one state; the management of the whole enterprise was rather unwieldy. Having bought land for the hotel, Flagler's goal was to build a pleasure palace and turn St. Augustine, Florida, into a 'Winter Newport'. Henry had 3 siblings: Melacinda Flagler and 2 other siblings. His mother was Elizabeth Caldwell Morrison Harkness. A large portion of his estate was designated for a "niece" who was said actually to be a child born out of wedlock. "Our Own Riviera," Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Standard's most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential pricing, and secret transportation rebates. [29] Robert Nobel had established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including the region's first pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. Flagler controlled a vast fortune, which he earned by buying out small oil refineries and creating a monopoly with Standard Oil. You see, demand for salt had risen with the beginning of the war it was necessary for the preservation of food for the troops. The Alcazar Hotel and Casa Monica Hotel have their own fascinating histories. To get a more in-depth narrative of the life of that building complex, visit The Ponce de Leon Hotel's Historical Place profile on our website. One of the grain brokers [17]This subsidiary, the Empire Transportation Company, which Joseph D. Potts created in 1865 and also ran, owned other assets including a small fleet of ships on the Great Lakes. One day when very old he went on a drunken spree. It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. Soon after, though, Mary and Harry followed. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco, now part of ConocoPhillips; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco, now part of BP; Standard of California, which became Chevron; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon), now part of ExxonMobil; Standard of New York, which became Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio, now part of BP. In June 1870, Flagler and Rockefeller formed Standard Oil of Ohio, which rapidly became the most profitable refiner in Ohio. In fact, the exterior bares a memorial script to his daughter who perished giving birth to his . "[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. He was instrumental in stopping an Al-Qaeda attack on the USS Seahawk battlegroup (which the Watertown was a part of). "Flagler's Magnificent Hotel Ponce de Leon," FL: The Florida Historical Quarterly, Issue 54, Volume 1. Harry and Annie's daughter Jean Louise Flagler made Palm Beach a large part of her life. Franklin W. Smith had just finished building Villa Zorayda and Flagler offered to buy it for his honeymoon. Struck by the tragic loss of his eldest daughter and first granddaughter, Henry Flagler sought solace in his business projects and the council of friends like Dr. Andrew Anderson. [2] Flagler's mother was Elizabeth Caldwell Harkness Flagler, Isaac's third wife and a widow who had a stepson, Stephen V. Harkness, and a son, Daniel M. Harkness, from her marriage to deceased widower David Harkness of Milan, Ohio. Tail tucked in shame, the destitute Flagler family moved back to Ohio in January of 1866. "[27] Over time foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded his dominance. Henry Flagler and his wife Ida Alice traveled to Jacksonville, Florida for their honeymoon. He is known as the father of St. Augustine, Mia Flagler and Rockefeller had envisioned the use of pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them. (bosses daughter) Mary Harkness (step cousin) 1853. St. Augustine city officials and businessmen were mostly grateful that Henry Flagler had chosen their little hamlet to 'please himself' by developing it and filling it with tourists. The same year that she arrived in New York, her doctors insisted that she spend the winter in a kinder climate. Flagler suffered additional family tragedies when his oldest daughter died from complications of childbirth in 1899. It was Henry M. Rockefeller admitted later, "We realized that public sentiment would be against us if we actually refined all the oil. Henry Flagler: A Man of Big Dreams Henry Flagler was born on January 2, 1830. To add to the sting, Henry 'Harry' Flagler was generally known as Harry Harkness, showing more deference for his mother than his father. Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 - May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil. 1888: The Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, 1888: The Casa Monica/ Cordova Hotel in St. Augustine, 1894: The Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach (on Lake Worth), 1897: The Royal Palm Hotel on the banks of the Miami River, 1901: The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach (on the Atlantic Coast). Estate All the things he owned. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway. As Henry's businesses prospered, they moved to New York City. Together, the three set their sights on opening a distillery that would serve nearby railroad workers. During the early 1880s, Flagler outsourced the care of young Harry to his half-sister Carrie and daughter Jennie Louise. Their estate was called Kirkside and was built west of the Ponce de Leon property. Immediately, she began taking advantage of the fortune she had married into like any budding socialite, she loved gowns, jewelry, and yachts. He planned to build a hotel on that land, one that gave Northern tourists a fine place to spend their money. There, they were both given work by Lamon Harkness, who was the brother of Dan's late father. By the end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S.[15], In 1877, Standard clashed with Thomas A. Scott the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, its chief hauler. 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. 1. In 1853, young Henry followed suit when Lamon Harkness' middle daughter, Mary, became his first wife. Henry explained: "We worked night and day, making good oil as cheaply as possible and selling it for all we could get. Perhaps Henry Flagler already planned that he would need a physician to confirm his wife suffered from insanity. To add to the tragic circumstances, her baby daughter also died. [10] He is known as the father of Miami, Florida and also founded Palm Beach, Florida. [26] Its share of world oil refining topped out above 90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century. Bostonian Franklin W. Smith had recently built his winter home, the Villa Zorayda, which caught Flagler's eye almost immediately. "For the longest time, I could not imagine why Jean would save Whitehall," said Mr. Ponce. (However, when Harry Flagler was asked about this later, he denied that Ida Alice had ever been his mother's nurse.). Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 - May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. After their wedding, the couple traveled to Saint Augustine. Pratt and Rogers became Flagler and Rockefeller's partners. Henry Morrison Flagler (1830 - 1913) Henry Morrison Flagler Born 2 Jan 1830 in Hopewell, Ontario, New York, USA Ancestors Son of Isaac Flagler and Elizabeth (Caldwell) Flagler Brother of Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness [half] and Daniel Morrison Harkness [half] Husband of Mary (Harkness) Flagler married 9 Nov 1853 (to 18 May 1881) in Huron, Ohio If you stroll through the area of St. Augustine immediately west of downtown, you will experience the extraordinary influence of New Yorker Henry Morrison . In March, he stepped down from that post but will . Cleveland became very well known for oil refining, as, "More and more crude oil was shipped from the oil regions to Cleveland for the refining process because of transportation facilities and the aggressiveness of the refiners there. In 1885 he decided to build a luxury hotel there which would attract the country's elite. 2. His father was a Presbyterian minister, Isaac Flagler. Ida Alice (ne Shourds) Flagler had been a caregiver for Mary. At the same time, he began to have an affair with Mary Lily Kenan; by 1899, newspapers began to openly question whether the two were having an affair. Rockefeller. "[63], Miami's main east-west street is named Flagler Street and is the main shopping street in Downtown Miami. Commander John Flagler, USN. He returned to St. Augustine in 1885 and made Smith an offer. After his first wife's death, Flagler developed a . There is also a monument to him on Flagler Monument Island in Biscayne Bay in Miami; Flagler College and Flagler Hospital are named after him in St. Augustine. 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. Municipal, State, and Federal government officials questioned how many limits they should place on these "Captains of Industry." She left the millions she inherited to members of her family and to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their only son was born in 1870. He is also known as a founder of the cities of Miami and Palm Beach, Florida. St. Augustine, FL: Flagler College, 2013. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986. https://staughs.com/the-mary-lily-kenan-conspiracy/. Henry Morrison Flagler was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel's charter, and non-preferential rates were restored for the time being. Henry Morrison Flagler was born on January 2, 1830 in Hopewell, New York, to Reverend and Mrs. Isaac Flagler. Rather than try to influence the price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Luckily, the couple found the city to be even more promising than before. Her husband, Henry Morrison Flagler, was fifty-one years old. Nothing major just language that "[made] incurable insanity a ground for divorce.". McGuire & McDonald were in charge of construction. However, Smith had fallen on some hard times and sold the hotel to Henry Flagler not long after it opened in 1888. Jennie Louise was now a young married woman of twenty-four years; Carrie had died as a child; the son Harry was eight. Knetsch concludes that "Flagler in fact provided health care for his employees and was a far better employer than the press alleged. Henry Flagler: The Astonishing Life and Times of the Visionary Robber Baron Who Founded Florida. After Mary died Henry married her nurse-caregiver, Ida Alice Shourds. Keys, L. (2015) Hotel Ponce de Leon: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Flagler's Gilded Age Palace. In 1901, U.S. Steel, now controlled by J. Pierpont Morgan, having bought Andrew Carnegie's steel assets, offered to buy Standard's iron interests as well. Jul 1, 2020 - Explore Patricia Cipolla's board "Henry Flagler" on Pinterest. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil had absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors. [citation needed], In 1912, the Florida Overseas Railroad was completed to Key West. Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 - May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil. Henry Flalger entombed on the right Jennie Louise is currently entombed inside of the church with her infant daughter, Majorie, in her arms. Henry is also best known as, Entrepreneur best known as the founder of Standard Oil and for helping to develop what came to be known as the Florida East Coast Railway. The couple had two daughters, Jennie Louise, born in 1855, and Carrie, born in 1858. The family moved as was necessary for Isaac's job, having lived in Virginia and Ohio during Henry's childhood. [citation needed], By 1905, Flagler decided that his Florida East Coast Railway should be extended from Biscayne Bay to Key West, a point 128 miles (206km) past the end of the Florida peninsula. Indeed, Mary Harkness Flagler's ailments first brought Henry Flagler to Far Florida. Perhaps Henry Flagler already planned that he would need a physician to confirm his wife suffered from insanity. Seven years later he became a senior salesman with a salary of $ 400 per year. Played by Tom Amandes. After construction for the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar were underway in St. Augustine, Flagler's railroad properties started to expand southwards. Two years after his first wife died in 1881, he married again. While many tourists were satisfied with the charms of rural Florida, the appeal quickly wore off for the Flaglers, Henry specifically. Hotel Ponce de Leon: The Architecture & Decoration. Despite (or perhaps because of) the tragic death of the mother of his children, Henry Flagler poured himself into the business of Standard Oil. By the mid-1860s, Cleveland had become the center of the oil refining industry in America and Rockefeller left the grain business to start his own oil refinery. We correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge. In 1853 Mary married Henry Morrison Flagler and together they were parents of three children. Standard Oil grew to become one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. Mendez, Jesus. Because he had a hard personal life and was a cutthroat business man. The family being of moderate means, Henry struck out from New York to Republic, Ohio in 1844. Henry Flagler was born on January 2, 1830, in the little village of Hopewell, in upstate New York, to Elizabeth and Isaac Flagler. Flagler engaged Thomas Hastings and Jean Carrere of the Carrere & Hastings architectural firm to design the hotel. Please disable your ad blocker to view the video content. Over 30 years, Flagler had invested about $50 million in railroad, home and hotel construction and had made donations to suffering farmers after the freeze in 1894. Flagler's son dropped out of school and failed to follow his father into business, causing a lifelong rift between the two men. Indeed, there was a legal loophole provided to affluent Americans they were allowed to pay $300 to the government and hire a substitute to serve in their place. 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. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard's iron interests for U.S. Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on the company's board of directors. He was born in New York. By 1896, Flagler's railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway, reached Biscayne Bay. In a few years, it seems he embraced the life of a wealthy widower. VisitStAugustine.com. The grand marble building was named by the final Mrs. Flagler herself: "Whitehall." 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. He became known as the Father of Miami, Florida. They had 3 children: Maud Aiken and 2 other children. [30] Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. While in this state he met his good pastor, to whom, being soundly upbraided for his condition, he replied, 'I've been giving all my days to the Lord hitherto, and now I'm taking one for myself. [citation needed], Flagler and Rockefeller began a publicity campaign to put the company and themselves in a better light. Henry Morrison Flagler was born on January 2, 1830. [citation needed]. 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. When he was a toddler, his two older half-sisters moved to New York to live with family, and Caroline ('Carrie') and Dan were Henry's constant companions. The current sanctuary building that is seen today was built in the late 1880s and early 1890s by gracious donations from Henry Morrison Flagler. NY By genealogy.com user October 24, 1999 at 04:39:45. Flagler and Rockefeller then decided to issue certificates against oil stored in Standard Oil's pipelines. When asked by the president of Rollins College in Winter Park about his philanthropic efforts, Flagler reportedly replied, "I believe this state is the easiest place for many men to gain a living. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought the fuel to local markets, and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the existing network of wholesale jobbers. It was here where Flagler would host his final parties and conduct his final business transactions. His father, Isaac Flagler, was a Presbyterian minister. Version accessed: St. Augustine, FL: Historic Print & Map Company, 2004. As you go through the . [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. It was in the late 1850s that Flagler met John D. Rockefeller who was working for a Cleveland grain broker and traveled the hinterlands in search of business. Second Marriage, Second Sojourn to St. Augustine After a time, Flagler began to turn over some of his duties at Standard Oil to younger blood. According to historian David Leon Chandler, Henry Flagler is believed to either have bought a deferment in 1862 or provided the government supplies instead of service. So, when sources from the time period say that Ida Alice Shourds Flagler was insane, one must look closely and think critically. He was the baby of the household, being born several years after the youngest of his siblings. At least, not yet. In a few years, it seems he embraced the life of a wealthy widower. The hotel, the Ponce de Leon, was a success. Zacharra worked in England for several years before moving to Dutchess County, New York, in 1710. His business dealings, along with those of partner John D. Rockefeller's, were laid out in painstaking detail by one bold muckraker of the era, Ida [citation needed], One of the most effective attacks on Flagler and Rockefeller and their firm was the 1905 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. 0:00. Expert Help. [9], By 1869, there was three times more kerosene refining capacity than needed to supply the market, and the capacity remained in excess for many years. Several years later, in 1870, their only son, Henry Harkness Flagler, was born. "Henry M. Flagler's Hotel Ponce de Len.". Flagler encouraged fruit farming and settlement along his railway line and made many gifts to build hospitals, churches and schools in Florida. But Standard Oil adapted, developing its own European presence, expanding into natural gas production in the U.S., then into gasoline for automobiles, which until then had been considered a waste product. Was Colonel Henry Ostrom's first wife Elizabeth FLAGLER? [26], Its vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees. 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. They had two daughters, Jennie Louise and Carrie. In the springtime of 1870, Mary Harkness Flagler even became pregnant with the couple's third child (the aforementioned Henry "Harry" Flagler). It soon was doing one tenth of all the petroleum business in the United States. APA: VisitStAugustine.com. Two years later, he expanded his Florida holdings. Flagler renamed it the Hotel Cordova, after the street that it was on. Flagler believed that he had learned a valuable lesson: invest in a business only after thorough investigation. His attention was consumed by the business of his hotel chains and expanding railroad empire. Having had no prior experience in the salt industry, the Flagler & York company flopped and Henry lost around $100,000 ($100K in 1865 is nearly $2 million in 2022). [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. The railroad was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections, so the roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the State of Florida, which built the Overseas Highway to Key West, using much of the remaining railway infrastructure. In 1878, his wife Mary fell ill, and died on May 18, 1881, at age 47, leaving Henry Flagler with a young son to raise alone. Who was Henry Flagler? In 1882, Flagler and Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. [41] The history of American oil refining begins with Flagler and Rockefeller, as they built the biggest, most prosperous and monopolizing oil empire of their time: Standard Oil. [60][61] At 3 p.m. on the day of the funeral, May 23, 1913, every engine on the Florida East Coast Railway stopped wherever it was for ten minutes as a tribute to Flagler. Instead of attending lunch with his fellow businessmen, he took to hosting grand parties at his new summer estate (which was ominously named "Satan's Toe"). He served as a vice president through 1908 and was part of ownership until 1911. Henry Flagler was John D. Rockefeller's most significant business partner at Standard Oil.