1903 Florida East Coast Railway Railroad Map of Florida

A highly decorative 1903 map of Peninsular Florida issued by the Mathews-Northrup Company for Henry Morrison Flagler’s (1830 – 1913) Florida East Coast Railway. The map covers from the Georgia border to Key West and Cuba, and from Cedar Key to the Bahamas. The route of the railroad is illustrated in red overprinting extending from Jacksonville to just south of Miami, with major stops noted. The map also identifies drainage canals from Lake Okeechobee constructed by J. O. Wright to drain the Everglades. The routes of the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company from Miami to Key West, Havana, and Nassau are illustrated by thick dashed lines. Inset maps focus on the Bahamas, the West Indies, and Cuba.

Dating this Map

Since this map is undated, one must use the content of the map to arrive at a date. The Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company was inaugurated on July 24, 1900, after the Florida East Coast Steamship Company and the Plant Steamship services merged, and operated for the next six and a half decades. The Florida East Coast Railway acquired the Enterprise Branch between Titusville and Enterprise Junction in 1902 from the Southeastern Railway. In 1903, the Florida East Coast Railway extended its line twelve miles south of Miami to better serve the agricultural community, and that extension is illustrated here. However, it does not reach as far south as Homestead, which the Florida East Coast Railway reached in 1904.

The Florida East Coast Railway

The Florida East Coast Railway was a major force in the development of Eastern Florida in the late 19th and early 20th century. Spearheaded by the industrialist Henry Flagler (1830 - 1913), the Florida East Coast Railway fulfilled a vision dating back at least to the 1870s. Before Flagler, Florida south of Jacksonville was serviced by only a few rickety railroads unconnected to one another. Most access to Florida cities was limited to ferry and steamer services. Flagler bought up most of the failing existing railroads, upgraded them, and connected them with new lines, formally consolidating the network first as the 'Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Indian River Railway', and then, on September 9, of 1895, as the 'Florida East Coast Railway'.

The Empire Grows

The railroad reached New Smyrna in 1892, Cocoa in 1893, Palm Beach in 1894, and Miami in 1896. Flagler constructed sumptuous resorts and founded cities all along the route, among them The Ormond, the Royal Palm, the Royal Poinciana, the Continental, and more. Combined with his railroads, and the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company (P. and O. S.S.), Flagler commanded a resort empire spanning the entire east cost of the Florida peninsula

The Key West Extension

The extension to Key West, possibly the greatest Railroad achievement of the era, was planned from about 1895, but not completed until 1912. It operated for little more than 20 years, heralding a golden age for the Key West and the Florida Keys in general. Business magnates, presidents, and dignitaries rode the rails to Miami or Key West before embarking with Flagler’s Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company to Havana, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Long after Flagler’s death, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed some of the railroad bridges leading to Key West (the remains of which can still be seen) and the FEC, then insolvent, was unable to finance the repairs. The tracks were donated to the state, who used the infrastructure to construct the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1).

Census and Publication History

There are multiple states of this map reflecting the development of the Florida East Coast Railway. We note only one other verifiable cataloged example of the present state of this map, which is part of the collection at the Touchton Map Library, although it is dated to 1908. The Library of Congress owns an example of the earliest known state, published for the 'Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Indian River Railway', with the railroad terminating at Palm Beach, and a date of 1893. Rumsey’s example of 1896 sees the name changed to Florida East Coast Railroad, and shows tracks extending as far as Miami, with planned extensions as far as Key West. The Tampa Bay History Center, Touchton Map Library, owns an example showing the track extending as far as Key West dating to 1913. A more extensive version was published by the Florida Land Department in 1924, showing all railroads and roads in the peninsula.