Flagler’s Overseas Railway, Narrated by Sara Wiles
Sara Wiles is a Florida native, activist, and content creator who uses her platforms to help everyday people better understand, connect with, and act on the political issues shaping their lives and communities. Wiles tells how Henry Flagler defied his critics to build the "impossible" Overseas Railroad to Key West, transforming the future of Florida.
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Notes
Unless otherwise noted, all images used in this video are in the public domain.
Building the Oversea Railway. Circa 1907 – 1910. Photograph. Courtesy of the Key West Art & Historical Society.
Henry M. Flagler at Knights Key Dock. Circa 1908 – 1912. Photograph. Courtesy of the Key West Art & Historical Society.
Jewfish Creek Bridge, 1907. Photograph. Courtesy of the Monroe County Public Library and Key West Art & Historical Society.
Florida East Coast Railway Relief Train. Circa September 4, 1935. Photograph. Courtesy of the Key West Art & Historical Society.
I love these episodes. I worked at Alfred I DuPont institute in Wilmington, DE. AI figured heavily in helping FL survive the Great Depression. He single handedly kept the banks afloat and was a large stakeholder in the northern railroad system in Florida. The Flagler museum and artifacts are great visits. AI DuPont would sail on the Ninemoosha to Jacksonville where he wintered. There is another children’s hospital located there thanks to his early 1900’s philanthropy. The DuPonts escaped France during napoleon’s reign of terror and established gunpowder manufacturing that thrived during the revolutionary, civil, ww1, ww2 wars. AI was deaf in one ear because of an explosion at a gunpowder manufactory where he worked. His beautiful italianate estate Nemours is a popular tourist site in north Wilmington and the children’s hospital is adjacent to that beautiful edifice. DuPont was a tinkerer and he air conditioned his manse with an acetic acid countercurrent system long before any of us had air conditioning. He and his Virginia wife are buried in the bell tower campanile on the hospital campus in Wilmington. Jesse Ball DuPont, sister of Ed ball - the long time financial organizer of the AI endeavors, often walked the halls of the hospital greeting the staff and patients. I never met her but knew so many who did. If you knew the correct fence, it was always unlocked and you could escape to the gigantic property of the manse. It was wonderful. Best place, in a way, I ever worked.