The Man Who Built Florida: Henry Flagler's $3 Billion Railroad to Paradise

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In 1885, Florida was nothing but swamps and mosquitoes. By 1915, it was America's winter playground. One man made that transformation happen: Henry Flagler.

This is the story of the most audacious real estate development project in American history - how a 55-year-old Standard Oil co-founder spent $100 million building a 400-mile railroad through impossible terrain to create an entire state's economy.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• How Flagler used vertical integration to control every piece of the value chain
• Why he built luxury hotels as "marketing" for land development
• The engineering marvel of his Key West railroad extension over 128 miles of ocean
• How one man created the $100 billion Florida tourism industry from nothing
• Modern parallels to Disney, Musk, and Amazon's infrastructure strategies

Key Lessons:

• Infrastructure creates land value, not the other way around
• Think in decades, not years, for generational wealth
• Create markets instead of competing in existing ones
• Vertical integration amplifies returns across the entire value chain

Whether you're a real estate investor, entrepreneur, or student of business history, Flagler's story reveals timeless principles about vision, patience, and the power of thinking impossibly big.

Think Well. Act Wisely. Build Something Timeless.

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Think Well. Act Wisely. Build Something Timeless.