Just after the turn of the 20th century, Henry Flagler was among the world's richest men. He had accumulated his wealth by founding standard oil, and essentially owning the early oil business.
But he wasn't content to sit on those riches. He wanted to do more - and have more. He decided that he could create a series of hotels for his wealthy friends to winter in, along Florida's coast.
To do that, he had to snap up some land in the state. He did what any wealthy man of any era might do: he told the state that he would build a railroad along the coast in exchange for free land near the coast.
Florida was poor for the most part, saw the opportunity, and agreed. (And yes, it's more complicated overall, but that is a quick summary)
As he agreed, he built the railroads at his expense, and allowed for public use of them. But, he also used them to allow for the wealthy to travel to his hotels, and (more importantly) for commerce that benefited him.
He built an opulent hotel in Saint Augustine. He built another palace of sorts in palm beach. And they were successful at bringing people to Florida, as he anticipated.
Then, he decided to build further south, into the Florida keys. Ideally, he wanted his railroad to go all the way to key west.
The reasons were strictly for financial gain to him: it has a deep water port, its 90 miles from Cuba and could be conducive to trade, and there was a desire to open trade, given that the Panama Canal was set to open.
And of course, it was a way to make himself more of a household name. He would be "the guy."
The railroad, built in the 1910s, reportedly cost $50 million dollars - that's something around $1.6 billion in today's dollars. (Yikes!)
There is a fun story about how the railroad builders wanted to finish early and worked multiple shifts to create the bridge that spanned the seven miles between the middle keys and big pine key. It was done as a sort of a marathon effort. And they named the town to the north Marathon as a result.
There are also stories about how he treated the people building the railroad. They were paid well, but had moderately tough living conditions. And he imposed his morals on the men working there: no gambling, no drinking, and no women were allowed at his camp.
I pose to you this question: are the über wealthy of today any different?
We hear about these billionaires who always want more. To control everything. And they bend the rules to their whim and get others to do their bidding.
It hasn't changed in the 110 years between; it's just that we're more aware of it now. And the bites these guys take are bigger than they were before.
But the Elon Musks and the Jeff Bezos of the world are in it for themselves, much like Henry Flagler. They want to be "the guy." The wealthy industrialist who does something grand at the expense of others around him.
