#84 Apr 2015 Florida and Henry Flagler

In the 1880’s well-to-do Northerners discovered the temperate winter climate and unique ambiance of St. Augustine. Millionaire industrialist Henry Flagler built the Ponce de Leon Resort Hotel – endeavoring to meet and exceed the expectations of his wealthy guests.

The hotel is now Flagler College and is being restored to its original grandeur.

The rotunda is breathtaking.

The dining room contains the largest private collection of Tiffany stained glass windows in the world.

Hotel guests were committed to a three-month vacation, which cost $10,000 to be paid in cash upon arrival. In 1888 it was believed that women would swoon and become mentally unstable if they saw such a large amount of cash. Gentlemen were ushered to the right to pay for their stay. Ladies were escorted to the left to the ladies retiring room.

It's a truly magnificent building and is being honoured by the college students who provide guided tours.

Across the street from the Ponce de Leon, Flagler built the Alcazar Hotel to provide activities for more energetic winter visitors.

Among other leisure opportunities the hotel included a casino, the largest indoor swimming pool of its time, a bowling alley, and a Russian Bath Steam Room.

The Alcazar now houses City Hall and the Lightner Museum. The Museum contains over 40,000 antiques and collectibles gathered by Otto Lightner of Chicago, the Founder of Hobbies Magazine.

The items include a Malachite Urn from Russia

Tiffany Glass

A carved wooden seat from India

Hundreds of figurines

And crystal dishes.

A button collection was an organized activity in the 1930s. Creating attractive buttons relied on ingenuity rather than money in a time of often extreme financial circumstances.

Perhaps that was an activity my mother enjoyed growing up in that era in Southern Saskatchewan. As a young child I remember buttons ordered from a Kellogg's Corn Flakes box. We spent many hours sorting and arranging them such as this display.

Flagler believed that Florida could be THE destination for the wealthy elite. He extended the railroad from New York to St. Augustine and on to Key West to provide his guests with a comfortable trip to Florida.

He put a great deal of money into his dream and succeeded in many ways.

Henry Flagler did not want his wealthy guests bothered or upset by the local jail located near his sumptuous hotels. He paid for the construction of a new jail, which was constructed in a Queen Ann Victorian style. So high-styled was the jail that 19th century tourists would confuse it for a hotel and inquire at the front door about accommodations.

Sheriff “Big Joe” Perry and his deputies “welcomed” new prisoners as follows:
“Escape is impossible, regret is too late, and survival is not guaranteed.”

Jail cells were tiny and cramped with four men, no sanitation, ventilation or clean water.

Corporal punishment was considered a necessary part of convict rehabilitation.

The jail served as a county incarceration facility until 1953 when it was sold and developed as a tourist attraction.

Henry Flagler had a vision that started in St. Augustine and stretched throughout Florida to Key West. He built luxurious hotels that catered to the ultra rich and extended the railroad to provide comfortable, first class travel for his guests.

He also commissioned the men who built Alcatraz to create a jail whose exterior would not offend his guests. The interior, however, revealed a another facet of mankind. There is always more than one side to society and Flagler's projects showed both sides of one person.