Forum: Story Ideas

What would Florida have been like now if Flagler had not built railroad to what today is Miami. Would Miami be there? Would Florida be a tourist destination? Would Florida still be the sixth borough of New York City? Would there be a road to Key West? Would Truman have vacationed at Key West? Would there have been a Florida assassination attempt on JFK? What about Disney World? Would President Trump have Mar-o-Lago?
If he had NOT built that railroad would the Challenger disaster have happened?

Would Florida be a tourist destination?

There'd still be a bunch of beaches.

There'd still be a sizable community of Cuban ex-pats.

There'd still be a huge area with snow-free winters.

As for the Challenger question... not sure where the launch site would've been if not in Florida, but I'm not sure where it could've been that would've never gotten the seals below the fatal temp before launch. Maybe if they launched from Death Valley, or somewhere in southern Nevada, and only launched in the afternoon... (although the high temps probably would've caused some other problem.)

What would Florida have been like now if Flagler had not built railroad to what today is Miami.

Miami was already there before Flagler, just not under that name. It's a case that someone else would have done so, because the state would give you 8,000 acres of land for every 1 mile of track you put in. And trading with Cuba is a lot easier the closer you are to it.

As for being a tourist destination - climate has more to do with that than anything else. It's January, 10 degrees in New York, with snow and rain, or it's 80 in Palm Beach. That's why a Jewish woman's favorite w(h)ine is, "I want to go to Miami!"

As for a highway ... it's because the railroad bit the dust in a hurricane that the first highway was built, using most of the original piers. And it's been completely replaced, anyway.

As for Challenger ... you give Flagler too much credit. Cape Canaveral was used by the military regardless of whether the FEC went there or not.

Someone would have built a rail line, there were dozens of different RR companies with lines in or thru Ga (pretty much have to pass thru Ga to get to Fla) and some in northern Fla.

But Flagler was a good promoter. So he's at least partially responsible for the influx of less-than-filthy-rich New Yorkers. (The really-filthy-rich were already there, but moreso in Georgia's Golden Isles)

As for Disney, you can blame air-conditioning and air-planes for that. Disney World opened in 1971, which was the low point for rail service in the US,
with most RR'ds dropping passenger service altogether.