Henry Morrison Flagler, founder of the Standard Oil Company and the Florida East Coast Railroad and Hotel Company, died at his home in West Palm Beach at the age of eighty-three on this date in 1913. Flagler facilitated and greatly accelerated the development of Florida with the construction of the FEC railway, and an elaborate hotel system along Florida’s east coast that was designed to bring the wealthiest visitors to Florida. One year prior to his death, Flagler witnessed the completion of his Oversea Railway connecting Miami with Key West via a series of bridges—an incredible engineering feat, even today. Flagler was entombed with his family at the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine.
~Florida Historical Society
