Henry Flagler: Disappointments that Led to Great Business Ventures

Henry Morrison Flagler was an American real estate developer and financier. He was born in 1860 in New York. He started as a salt and grain businessman. Later, he ventured into oil refining with John Rockefeller.

Flagler’s partnership with Rockefeller was known as Rockefeller, Andrews and Flagler. In 1870, the firm was renamed Standard Oil Company. Flagler served as Standard’s vice president until his resignation in 1908. Flagler was Rockefeller’s closest business associate.

In 1883, Flagler visited Florida only to be disappointed by the inadequacy of hotel facilities and transport system. However, Flagler’s disappointment became a business opportunity. He acquired a number of railroads and consolidated them to a new company known as Florida East Coast Railway. The railway covered Daytona through Palm Beach, Miami and Key West. He organized steamships in the Miami harbor. He built a few hotels and established that made Florida the winter playground in US.

Flagler was a philanthropist who donated gifts to build churches, schools and hospitals. He used his millions to invest in Florida’s economy to make is a fast-growing state.