Henry Plant and His Contribution to the Railroads Systems in Florida

Henry Plant was an American businessman who was greatly involved in the railroad projects in Florida. He was the owner of the Plant System or railroads, a major player in the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Near Tampa in Florida, the city of Plant was named in honor of him.

Plant was born on October 27, 1819 in Branford, Connecticut. His father died when he was just six years old and his mother married again. His grandmother wanted him to be a clergy and offered to send him to Yale College. His impatience led him to an active career as a deckhand in a steamboat that plied New Haven and Hartford.

He did well with working on express parcels. But his company was acquired by Adams Express Company which transferred the business to railroads from steamboats. Plant went along with the change which made him in charge of the old York office. But his wife’s health problems forced the company to move them to Jacksonville n 1853. Then the possibility of future development in Florida opened the window for him.

In 1854, Plant was assigned as Adams Express superintendent for the territories in Potomac and Ohio rivers. Plant was successful in organizing the express service in the area which was relatively uncoordinated at that time. When the Civil War threatened the Southern properties with confiscation, the directors of Adams Express transferred them Plant. Plant organized the Southern Express Company in 1861 out of the Southern stockholders.

The Civil War ruined the Southern railroads and the depression of 1873 forced bankruptcy upon these businesses. However, the devastation was an opportunity for Plant. He believed that the Southern economy would eventually recover. At foreclosure, Plant acquired the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad in 1879 and the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in 1880. These companies became the nucleus of the transportation system that Plant would later establish in the southern Atlantic seaboard.

Plant chose the small village of Tampa to become the base of his southern Florida railroad and the home port of his steamships that ply to Havana.