Page 180 - John Anderson

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When Flagler reached retirement age at Standard Oil, he recognized
Florida's potential to attract out-of-state visitors. Though Flagler
remained on the Board of Directors at Standard Oil, he gave up his
day-to-day involvement in the corporation in order to pursue his
interests in Florida. He returned to St. Augustine in 1885 and soon
began construction on his first hotel, the 540-room Hotel Ponce de
Leon, which would open in early 1888.
As the Ponce de Leon was rapidly built from the ground up, Flagler
also had the Alcazar under construction. Two mammoth hotels,
gorgeously appointed, were springing up in the St. Augustine marshes
with no means by which the tourist might reach them except by river
steamer, ocean voyage or over the ramshackle, narrow-gauge railroad
line running into St. Augustine from Jacksonville.
With $2,000,000 tied up in what he had announced would be the
world’s finest hotel and another million being invested in the Alcazar
across the street, Flagler was hastened by the course of events into
the railroad building business. And it was in this field that he won
fame as great as that of any captain of industry, not excepting James
J. Hill, termed the empire builder of the West.
All negotiations with the owners of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and
Halifax River Railway Company failed to convince these men that their
road should be standardized and enlarged to meet anticipated traffic
requirements. So Flagler bought the railroad outright, made it
standard gauge, rebuilt the track system, added better equipment
and made a railroad of what had merely been two streaks of rust
through the Florida wilderness.
Flagler literally changed the skyline of St Augustine as he built two
hotels, purchased an existing hotel and built his new Kirkland
mansion one block north of his new hotel complex at King St. and
Cordova.

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