Pigeon Key Visitors Center

Dedicated  to  preserving  the  cultural  history of  the Florida Keys  by promoting  its  healthy future through education, history and research. In 1904, Henry Flagler announced he would build a railroad from Miami to Key West. Critics scoffed. Engineers were aghast. His business partners wondered if the old gentleman was quite sane. A determined Flagler would be the driving force to accomplish the Key West extension, and Florida’s remote tropical island paradise would never be the same. Henry Morrison Flagler was born in Hopewell, NY in 1830. His humble upbringing would be in stark contrast to his later life as one of the wealthiest men in turn of the century America. In 1867 Flagler had the good fortune to become a partner with John D. Rockefeller. Out of their business relationship grew the monopoly known as the Standard Oil Company. By the time he was 50 years old, Flagler had amassed a huge fortune.