Key West Overseas Rail Road - Information

The railroad that made Key West the wonderful tourist destination it is today would not have been, if Henry Flagler didn't pursue his dreams. Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913), was a principal in Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler and later, Standard Oil during the Gilded Age in the United States. This pioneer took interest in Florida while seeking a warmer climate for his ailing first wife in the late 1870s. Returning to Florida in 1881, he became the builder and developer of resort hotels and railroads along the east coast of Florida. Beginning with St. Augustine, he moved progressively south. Flagler helped develop what are now some of the top vacation destinations in the world like: Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Palm Beach, and became known as the Father of Miami, Florida. Flagler's rail network became known as the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). By 1904, the FEC had reached Homestead, which is south of Miami. He called the Key West Extension: The Eighth Wonder of the World. It was after the United States announced in 1905 the construction of the Panama Canal, that Flagler became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland via railroad. Key West is the United States' closest deep-water port to the Canal, and could not only take advantage of Cuban and Latin America trade, but the opening of the Canal would allow significant trade possibilities with the west. Initially called "Flagler's Folly", because the construction of the overseas railroad required many engineering innovations as well as significant amounts of labor and monetary resources. At one time during construction, nearly four thousand men were employed. During the seven year construction, five hurricanes threatened to halt the project. Costs were estimated at between $20 million and $40 million. Despite these enormous 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 aboard his private railcar "Rambler", marking the completion of the railroad's overseas connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida. It was widely known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". The portion of the Overseas Railroad in the Middle Keys was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 hurricane which is often called "The Storm of the Century". The September 2, 1935 storm killed between 400 and 700 people and devastated Long Key and adjacent areas. The FEC's Long Key Fishing Camp was destroyed, as was a FEC rescue train which became swamped at Islamorada. 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. Rebuilt in the 1980s, following Flagler's dream, the Overseas Highway (U.S. Route 1) continues to provide a highway link to Key West, ending at the buoy which marks the southernmost point in the continental United States. Many old concrete bridges of the Overseas Railroad remain in use as fishing piers.

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Open Directory - Recreation: Trains and Railroads: Personal Pages
East Coast Railway Key West Extension - "The Overseas Railway" from construction through its demise ...
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East Coast Railway Key West Extension - "The Overseas Railway" from construction through its demise ...
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RAILSCOT | Chronology | 1900 to 1922
... passenger stations at Newhaven, Ferry Road and Leith Walk West built but not opened). ... to Key West (the Overseas Railroad) opened.
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Florida, empire of the sun
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The Epic Struggle Between Road and Rail in the American Century, Basic Books, 1994. (The ... of the Overseas Railroad to Key West, Florida, ...
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List of U.S. Class I railroads - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... bridges to Key West that have since been rebuilt into road bridges for vehicle traffic, now known as the Overseas Highway.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Class_I_railroads en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Class_I_railroads
Off the Beaten Path - Florida Travel Guide - VirtualTourist.com
The overseas railroad. Henry Flagler built this rail road in 1912. In 1935 a hurricane destroyed a ... Key West is the last stop on the ...
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Off the Beaten Path - Florida Travel Guide - VirtualTourist.com
The overseas railroad. Henry Flagler built this rail road in 1912. In 1935 a hurricane destroyed a ... Key West is the last stop on the ...
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