Henry Flagler and the Key West Extension of his Florida East Coast Railway altered the history of the Florida Keys. Before his train came rocking and rolling over land and sea, the island chain was home to boating communities. The outside world was linked to the docks and wharves extending from the edges of the islands like lifelines.
People relied on ships to bring what they could not grow on the islands or harvest from the surrounding waters. Coffee, sugar and other sundry items, along with mail, friends and family arrived by boat. When the weather cooperated, mail, friends and family left on boats. For those calling the Florida Keys home, change was on the horizon, and it came in the form of Flagler.
He had a vision, set the plan in motion and financed the railroad’s construction through the Keys. Surveys were made, land was cleared, tracks laid and bridges built; each was an extraordinary feat given the uncharted territory. Flagler accomplished something bigger, too. He physically altered portions of the island chain, making one island where there were once two, as was the case with Windley Key. He also changed the culture of the communities that called the island chain home.
After the train arrived, people living in the Keys no longer relied solely on the erratic nature of ship schedules. Life got a little easier as islanders began to turn their focus away from the long, thin docks extending from the craggy shoreline and toward the railroad right-of-way running through the islands’ interiors.
The train brought a schedule to the Keys as it rumbled up and down the island chain twice a day. It arrived at Key Largo at 12:50 p.m., Tavernier at 1:15, Islamorada at 1:31, Marathon at 3:08, and Key West at 4:35. The train brought consistency, delivering, among other things, coffee, sugar, ice, mail and family. It also made medical care easier by allowing convenient travel to Key West or the mainland to see a doctor or dentist.
Change occurred in the Upper Keys and Middle Keys years before it did on the other side of the Seven Mile Bridge. While the train arrived in Key West on Jan. 22, 1912, daily service had been established across the Upper Keys and down through Knights Key, at the base of what is now called the Seven Mile Bridge, by 1908.
For farmers shipping the fruits of their labor to northern markets aboard ships, the route’s slow pace and occasional delays from weather or other phenomena hastened spoilage during shipping. The railroad was a boon for Upper Keys farmers because it was more efficient. New York markets could be reached in two or three days. Locals began asking county officials for roads to access the right-of-way better.
New communities developed near railroad hubs and stations. Tavernier, Islamorada and Marathon, each established between 1907 and 1910, developed as a result of Flagler’s train.
One thing the train did successfully was open a door to the Florida Keys that had previously not existed. When that door swung open, the tourism industry began to take root. Motels, restaurants and fish camps, most notably the Long Key Fishing Camp, were established.
New calls for a road to connect to the mainland followed. Those calls developed into the construction of State Road 4A, the first version of the Overseas Highway. When it opened in 1928, it magnified what Flagler’s train brought to public attention – the Keys as a destination.
The train’s run ended when the Labor Day Hurricane devastated the island chain on Sept. 2, 1935. The destruction included 40 miles of railroad track; the train never ran again. After the hurricane, the railroad and the highway became intertwined. The state purchased the right of way and, when the second version of the Overseas Highway opened to traffic in 1938, the railroad bridges between Lower Matecumbe Key and Big Pine Key had been widened to accommodate automobile traffic.
Although the train no longer runs through the Florida Keys, nearly a century later, its visual reminders are hard to miss. Many of the bridges that linked one island to the next still stand as the metaphorical stitching holding Flagler’s legacy intact. Years and hurricanes may have chipped away at them, but many are still in active use.
Long since closed to traffic, many of the old railroad bridges are used for fishing, strolling or watching the colors in the sky change when the sun starts to set. For early risers, sunrise strolls work, too, as the island chain acts as a border between the east and west. On one side of the island chain, the sun rises. On the other, it sets.
Although cars no longer drive over the old railroad bridges, one “train” still transports people over one of them. It delivers passengers to Pigeon Key, one of the most culturally significant reminders of the railroad years. Home to railroad workers during the construction years, the small island has been preserved as a monument to the building of Flagler’s railroad. Home to some of the oldest structures still standing outside of Key West, visiting Pigeon Key feels a little bit like stepping back in time. The “railroad” tram ride over the refurbished Flagler-era bridge, with warm, salty breezes blowing, certainly helps set the mood.
Flagler died on May 20, 1913, and never heard about the 1935 hurricane or saw the end of his ambitious line. He didn’t see his bridges become automobile bridges or hear the name Seven Mile Bridge, which is actually four distinct bridges: Knights Key, Pigeon Key, Moser Channel and Pacet Channel Viaduct. Though he was a visionary, Flagler could never have looked at the Pacet Channel Viaduct and foreseen an Australian pine sapling taking root and growing into a local celebrity named Fred the Tree. Like Flagler, Fred had a dream and pursued it with wild abandon.
