About East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railways (FECR) story is rich with history, beginning with an entrepreneurial spirit that pioneered the glory days of rail travel. The company owes its roots to Henry M. Flagler… a name synonymous with growth and development for the State of Florida.
Originally an oil man, Flagler had formed the Rockefeller, Andrews and Flagler Oil Refinery with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews in 1868, which later emerged as a joint-stock corporation named Standard Oil. By 1877, Standard Oil was considered the biggest and wealthiest industrial company in the world.
But in Florida, development was slow. In 1878, for example, St. Augustine – the oldest city in the nation – was a city of great potential with no one to harness it. On a personal trip to the city, Flagler found it charming, and realized it would be home to his next venture. Giving up his New York Standard Oil job in 1885, he came back to St. Augustine to fix what he thought were the two main problems: hotels and transportation. After successfully building the Ponce De Leon Hotel, he moved on to creating railways, which begins the Florida East Coast lineage.