The is a
Class II Railroad operating in the
US state of
Florida ; in the past, it has been a
Class I Railroad . The FEC is renowned as the railroad that built the first railroad bridges to
Key West that have since been rebuilt into road bridges for vehicle traffic, now known as the
Overseas Highway . It was originally known as the '''Florida Coast and Gulf Railway''' and then the '''Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway'''; for more information and other former railroads merged into the line, see the
Family Tree below.
" logos such as these often adorned the ends of observation cars on the .]]
The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) was developed by
Henry Morrison Flagler , a United States tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and
Rockefeller partner in
Standard Oil . Originally based in
Cleveland, Ohio and formed as
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler in
1867 , in
1877 ,
Standard Oil moved its headquarters to
New York City , and Flagler and his family moved there as well. He was joined by
Henry H. Rogers , another leader of Standard Oil who also became involved in the development of America's railroads, including those on nearby
Staten Island , the
Union Pacific , and later in
West Virginia , where he eventually built the remarkable
Virginian Railway to transport
Coal to
Hampton Roads ,
Virginia .
" it is today.]]
Henry Flagler's non-Standard Oil interests went in a different direction, however, when in
1878 , on the advice of her physician, Flagler traveled to
Jacksonville ,
Florida for the winter with his first wife, Mary, who was quite ill. Two years after she died in
1881 , he married one of Mary's former caregivers. After their wedding, the couple traveled to
St. Augustine, Florida . Flagler found the city charming, but the hotel facilities and transportation systems inadequate. He recognized Florida's potential to attract out-of-state visitors. Though Flagler remained on the Board of Directors of
Standard Oil , he gave up his day-to-day involvement in the corporation in order to pursue his interests in Florida.
When Flagler returned to Florida, in
1885 he began building a grand St. Augustine hotel, the
Hotel Ponce De Leon . Flagler realized that the key to developing Florida was a solid transportation system and consequently purchased the
Jacksonville, St. Augustine And Halifax Railroad . He also noticed that a major problem facing the existing Florida railway systems was that each operated on different gauge systems, making interconnection impossible. Shortly after purchasing the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax Railroad, he converted the line to
Standard Gauge .
The earliest predecessor of the FEC was the narrow-gauge St. John’s Railway, incorporated in 1858, which constructed a now-abandoned line between Tocoi and St. Augustine.
In 1883, Henry M. Flagler, now retired from Standard Oil, moved to St. Augustine and purchased several hotels. The East Coast of Florida was relatively undeveloped at that time, and Flagler found it difficult to obtain the construction materials he needed. In 1885, Flagler purchased all assets of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River Railway; as the railroad expanded southward, the company was eventually re-named “Florida East Coast Railway Company – Flagler System” on September 7, 1895.
The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway served the northeastern portion of the state and was the first property in the Flagler Railroad system, which would eventually become the Florida East Coast Railway Company. Before Flagler bought the organization, the railroad stretched only between South Jacksonville and St. Augustine and lacked a depot sufficient to accommodate travelers to his St. Augustine resorts. Flagler built a modern depot facility as well as schools, hospitals and churches, systematically revitalizing the largely abandoned historic city.
Flagler next purchased three additional existing railroads: the
St. John's Railway , the
St. Augustine And Palatka Railway , and the
St. Johns And Halifax River Railway so that he could provide extended rail service on standard gauge tracks. Through the operation of these three railroads, by spring
1889 Flagler's system offered service from
Jacksonville to
Daytona . Continuing to develop hotel facilities to entice northern tourists to visit Florida, Flagler bought and expanded the
Hotel Ormond , located along the railroad's route north of Daytona.
Beginning in
1892 , when landowners south of Daytona petitioned him to extend the railroad 80 miles south, Flagler began laying new railroad tracks; no longer did he follow his traditional practice of purchasing existing railroads and merging them into his growing rail system. Flagler obtained a charter from the state of Florida authorizing him to build a railroad along the
Indian River to
Miami and as the railroad progressed southward, cities such as
New Smyrna and
Titusville began to develop along the tracks.
. The structure was built in 1893.]]
By
1894 , Flagler's railroad system reached what is today known as
West Palm Beach . Flagler constructed the
Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach overlooking the
Lake Worth Lagoon . He also built
The Breakers Hotel on the ocean side of Palm Beach, and Whitehall, his private 55 room, 60,000 square foot (5,600 m&
2) winter home. The development of these three structures, coupled with railroad access to them, established Palm Beach as a winter resort for the wealthy members of America's
Gilded Age . Palm Beach was to be the terminus of the Flagler railroad, but during 1894 and
1895 , severe freezes hit the area, causing Flagler to rethink his original decision not to move the railroad south. To further convince Flagler to continue the railroad to Miami, he was offered land from private landowners, the Florida East Coast Canal and Transportation Company, and the Boston and Florida Atlantic Coast Land Company in exchange for laying rail tracks.
On
September 7 ,
1895 , the name of Flagler's system was changed from the to the '''Florida East Coast Railway Company''' and by
1896 , it reached
Biscayne Bay , the largest and most accessible harbor on Florida's east coast. To further develop the area surrounding the Miami railroad station, Flagler dredged a channel, built streets, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the Metropolis. When the town incorporated in
1896 , its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for the city's development by naming it, "Flagler." He declined the honor, persuading them to keep the city's old Indian name, "Miami."
The railroad south of West Palm Beach was constructed in phases by the FEC and the predecessor systems. Flagler began his railroad building in 1892. Under Florida’s generous land-grant laws passed in 1893, 8,000 acres (32 km&
2) could be claimed from the state for every mile (1.6 km) built. Flagler would eventually claim a total in excess of two million acres (8,000 km&
2) for building the FEC, and land development and trading would become one of his most profitable endeavours.
Before it became the FEC, the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River was constructing a line southwards from Daytona Beach in 1894. Fort Pierce was reached on January 29, and West Palm Beach on March 22. Further extension southwards did not begin until June of 1895, when a favorable deal was signed with Miami-area business interests. Fort Lauderdale was reached on March 3 of the following year. By April, the construction reached Biscayne Bay, the largest and most accessible harbor on Florida’s east coast. To further develop the area surrounding the Miami railroad station, Flagler dredged a channel, built streets, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed Miami’s first newspaper, the Metropolis. Flagler announced in 1905 that the FEC would be extended 128 miles to Key West over the ocean. The “Overseas Extension” was completed in 1912, a mere 16 months prior to Flagler’s death, at a cost of $27 million and lives of hundreds of workmen.
References: Seth H. Bramson, "Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway" (2002).
Never one to rest on his laurels, Flagler next sought perhaps his greatest challenge: the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to
Key West , a city of almost 20,000 inhabitants located 128 miles beyond the end of the Florida
Peninsula . Flagler became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland after the United States announced in
1905 the construction of the
Panama Canal . Key West, the United States' closest deep-water port to the
Canal , could not only take advantage of
Cuba n and
Latin America trade, but the opening of the Canal would allow significant trade possibilities with the west.
The construction of the
Overseas Railroad required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and monetary resources. At one time during construction, four thousand men were employed. During the seven year construction, five hurricanes threatened to halt the project.
Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway was completed in
1912 . In that year, a proud Henry Flagler rode the first train into Key West, marking the completion of the railroad's overseas connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida.
The stock market crash of 1929 was particularly harsh on the FEC. The railroad was in receivership by September 1931, a short 18 years after Flagler’s death. Bustitution on the branches began in 1932, and the magnificent Key West Extension was abandoned in 1935 after a disastrous Hurricane occurred during the Labor Day weekend that year. However, streamliners terminating in Miami nevertheless plied the rails between 1939 and 1968, including such famous trains as “The Champion”, jointly operated with the Atlantic Coast Line. The FEC had barely emerged from bankruptcy in 1961 when a labor contract negotiation turned sour, leading to a prolonged work stoppage beginning January 23, 1963. Although freight trains were operated with non-Union and supervisory crews, passenger runs were not reinstated until later. During the stoppage, Miami’s wooden-construction downtown passenger terminal was demolished on November 12, 1963. The passenger runs reinstated in 1965 between Jacksonville and Little River (NE 79th St.), with a single diesel and two streamlined passenger cars, would continue six days a week until it was finally discontinued on July 31, 1968.
In
1913 , Flagler fell down a flight of stairs at Whitehall. He never recovered from the fall and died in West Palm Beach of his injuries on
May 20 ,
1913 , at 84 years of age. He was buried in
St. Augustine alongside his daughter, Jenny Louise and first wife, Mary Harkness. Only his son Harry survived of the three children by his first marriage in 1853 to Mary Harkness. There is a monument to him in Biscayne Bay, and a college (Flagler) named after him in St. Augustine, Florida. The Florida East Coast Railway was the product of Flagler's resources and imagination. Flagler's construction of hotels at points along the railroad and his development of the agricultural industry through the Model Land Company established tourism and agriculture as Florida's major industries.
Nearly a century later, the effects of Henry Flagler's incredible accomplishments can still clearly be seen throughout Florida. Perhaps even more amazingly, as Florida is now well-known as a retirement state of preference for many Americans, Flagler accomplished these feats after retiring from his first career. Flagler had already founded and developed the vast empire of
Standard Oil with partners
John D. Rockefeller ,
Samuel Andrews , and
Henry H. Rogers before becoming interested in Florida. Linking the entire east coast of Florida, a state that at the time was largely an uninhabited frontier, demanded a great deal of foresight and perseverance.
The
Florida 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 . The Florida East Coast Railway 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. A rebuilt
Overseas Highway (
U.S. Route 1 ) following Flagler's dream, continues to provide a highway link to Key West, ending at the southernmost point in the continental United States.
The Florida East Coast Railway continues to operate from its headquarters in St. Augustine using nearly the same route developed by Flagler (the
Moultrie Cutoff was built in
1925 to shorten the distance south of
St. Augustine ). Today the company only provides freight service — passenger service was discontinued in
1968 after labor unrest that resulted in violence. However, there has been some speculation that the southern end of the FEC line may be used for a
Commuter Rail service to complement the existing
Tri-Rail line and that Amtrak may be allowed to use FEC lines for a more direct route between Jacksonville and Miami. The FEC currently transports
Tropicana Products ' "
Juice Train " cars to and from the company's processing facility in eastern Florida.
For many years the company was controlled by
Edward Ball , who headed the trusts set up under the will of his brother-in-law
Alfred I. Du Pont and associated business interests. His "Pork Chop Gang" was also a powerful force in Florida state politics. Later, after 36 years with the railroad Raymond Wyckoff took the helm on May 30, 1984, the same year that F.E.C. Industries was made the holding company for the Railway and the Commercial Realty and Development Company, a structure which persists to this day. As of March, 2005 Robert Anestis stepped down as C.E.O. of F.E.C. Industries after a 4 year stint, allowing Adolfo Henriquez to assume that position, with John McPherson, a long-time railroad man, continuing as President of the Railway itself.
The was incorporated under the general incorporation laws of
Florida to own and operate a railroad from
Jacksonville in
Duval County , through the counties of
Duval ,
St. Johns ,
Putnam ,
Volusia ,
Brevard ,
Orange ,
Osceola ,
Dade ,
Polk and
Hillsborough , in the State of
Florida .
Florida state law chapter 4260, approved
May 31 ,
1893 ,
Granted Land to the railroad. At that time, it was already in operation from
Jacksonville to
Rockledge , the part south of
Daytona having been constructed by them. The company had just filed a certificate changing and extending its lines on and across the
Florida Keys to
Key West in
Monroe County, Florida .
The name was changed to the on
September 7 ,
1895 .
- Lyrata
- Scottsmoor
- East Aurantia
- Jones Post Office or East Mims
- Titusville (Enterprise Branch begins)
- Indian River City
- Pritchards
- Frontenac
- Hardeeville
- Fuastina
- Sharpes
- City Point
- Cocoa
- Rockledge
- Rockledge Hotels (spur across Indian River)
- Coquina
- Bonaventure
- Pineda
- Bahia
- Horse Creek
- Eau Gallie
- Military Park (Station at the Kentucky Military Institute )
- Sarno
- Melbourne
- Tillman (now Palm Bay)
- Malabar
- Valkaria
- Grant
- Micco
- Roseland
FEC Kissimmee Valley Extension Map
- Maytown
- Osceola
- Geneva
- Chuluota
- Bithlo
- Pocataw
- Wewahotee
- Narcoossee
- Salofka
- Tohopkee ( Mail service terminated 1927 )
- Holopaw
- Illahaw ( Mail service terminated 1935 )
- Nittaw ( Mail service terminated 1935 )
- Kenansville
- Armstrong
- Pine Island
- Halsey
- Greely
- Bassinger
South of Holopaw, the line roughly parallels
US 441 .
The ('''E-branch''') was built in 1885 by the
Atlantic Coast, St. Johns And Indian River Railroad and leased to the
Jacksonville, Tampa And Key West Railroad , part of the
Plant System . Initially, the westernmost five miles served as a connection from
Enterprise Junction to
Enterprise , a port for
Steamboat traffic down the
St. Johns River . Later, the line was built through
Osteen ,
Kalamazoo , and
Mims to
Titusville .
A
Steam Locomotive pulled the first train over the line onto the
Wharf on the
Indian River at Titusville on the afternoon of
December 30 ,
1885 and greatly accelerated the transportation of passengers, produce, seafood, and supplies to and from
Central Florida . While
Titusville thrived thanks to this new transportation connection, Enterprise lost stature as a steamboat port, since
Henry Plant's Railroad paralleled the
St. Johns River and greatly reduced travel times to
Jacksonville .
During the winter of 1894–95, a widespread freeze hit twice, decimating the citrus crop and ruining that part of Florida's economy. This allowed
Henry Flagler to acquire the line at a discount to piece together what became the Florida East Coast Railway.
The track of the E-branch is still in place as far as
Aurantia , about five miles northwest of
Mims , ending directly under the
Interstate 95 overpass and is out of service pending abandonment. The crossing gates and signals were removed before the
Summer 2004 Hurricanes and the track is being used to store empty flat rail cars until the track is taken up.
This rail line is suited to recreational railroad use by such groups as the
North American Rail Car Owners' Association assuming a representative who is local to the area could be located. Otherwise, it is likely that the right-of-way will be converted to a
Multi-use Trail . In many cases the
Surface Transportation Board grants abandonment exemptions on the condition that the right-of-way become
Railbanked . Under this arrangement, if demand for rail service should arise in the future, rails could be rebuilt.
This branch, from Blue Spring on the
St. Johns River via
Orange City to the main line in
New Smyrna Beach , was built by the
Blue Spring, Orange City And Atlantic Railroad . In the mid-
1880s it became the of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway, which changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. It may have been the
Atlantic And Western Railroad in between. The line was in use until
1930 .
The railroad from
Tocoi to
Tocoi Junction , outside
St. Augustine , was built by the
St. Johns Railway . The Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway took it over by 1894, and changed its name to the Florida East Coast Railway in 1895. The line was abandoned by 1917; it was later used for
SR 95 , which became
SR 214 at some time after the
1945 Florida State Road Renumbering , and is now
CR 214 .
The almost arrow-straight was built in
1925 to cut the distance on the main line, avoiding the swing inland to
East Palatka . It runs from just north of
Bunnell to
Moultrie Junction in
St. Augustine .
This was originally built by the
Jacksonville And Atlantic Railroad from
Jacksonville to
Pablo Beach (now
Jacksonville Beach ). It was later extended north along the coast to
Mayport and taken over by the FEC.
formed
September 13 ,
1895 as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad; still exists
- - formed October 6 , 1892 as a renaming of the FC&G; renamed the Florida East Coast Railway September 13 , 1895
- --- - formed May 28 , 1892 ; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 6 , 1892
- --- - formed February 28 , 1881 as a renaming of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad October 31 , 1892
-- - formed March 1879 ; renamed the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad February 28 , 1881
- --- - formed September 1 , 1885 ; merged with the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railroad 1893
In
1890 , the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway (the line north of St. Augustine) changed from
Narrow Gauge to
Standard Gauge .
- 1 Noted by the author as the official history of the railroad.
