Saint Augustine Florida is the oldest, continuously occupied city in the United States. The city is brimming with history and culture, and one of the historic buildings you can’t miss while in the city is Flagler College.
The college is a Spanish style structure located at 74 King Street in Saint Augustine, Florida. The college opened in 1968 and has since continued to serve as an exceptional educational institute.
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| Ponce de Leon Hotel |
The pre-college history is a fun and glamorous gilded age tale. It started when Henry Flagler visited Saint Augustine in the late 1800’s, he fell in love with the area. As a business man, he was impressed with innovation of the poured concrete home of Franklin Smith. Flagler tried to buy the home from Smith for a winter home for his wife, but when Smith refused to sell, Flagler instead decided to build the Ponce. Or officially named, Ponce de León Hotel, after the famed explorer who reportedly came to the area in search of the fountain of youth.
The Ponce opened January 10th, 1888 and, like Smith’s home, was constructed of poured concrete. Thomas Edison was a close friend of Flagler, and he wired the buildings for electricity from the get-go—one of the firsts in the nation. A boiler system in the basement of the hotel generated the energy needed to light-up the hotel. Interestingly, Flagler had to hire extra staff to turn on and off the electricity for the hotel’s patrons. The guests were too afraid to touch the new technology to do it themselves.
Quickly the luxury hotel attracted a variety of wealthy northerners. Rooms sold
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| Dining room |
for five dollars, and up, per night. The Ponce was so popular, Flagler bought two more hotels in the area to handle the overflow. The dining room boasts beautiful stained-glass windows created by the famed Tiffany & Co, and massive murals painted by George W. Maynard, whose art also graces the walls in the Library of Congress. The furniture was designed by Pottier & Stymus of New York. Only the best, newest, and most opulent decorations were used catering to the upper-class clientele and giving those folks a little lower on the social class ladder an opportunity to live like the rich and famous.
The Ponce DeLeon Hotel was a hot spot for politicians, wealthy businessmen and their families and other rich and famous of the world. Among the long list of noted visitors was Mark Twain, Presidents Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt and baseball great, Babe Ruth. Frank Thompson, who was headwaiter in the 1880’s and 1890’s was a forerunner of the civil rights movement and organized a professional black baseball team. That sounds like an amazing story in its self.
An artist’s community was established at the hotel. Flagler built an artist’s studio building at the rear of the resort. Noted artists of the time were known to frequent the community. A few names on the guest list were, Felix de Crano, Martin Johnson Heade, Authur Vidal Diehl and Harry L. Hoffman.
By the 1910’s and 1920’s the hotel saw the number of visitors decline. Due in part to a growing resort area in Miami where the weather was warmer. Though the Ponce was one of only three of Flagler’s hotels to service the Great Depression proving its popularity.
If you’re ever able to visit the Saint Augustine area, Flagler College runs historic tours where you can still experience the opulence of this great, old hotel.
Thanks for joining me today on HHH. Have a wonderful month, until we meet again.
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Multi award-winning author, Michele K. Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and ten grandchildren in Florida, the sunshine state. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and here through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com.
Michele is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.
With a touch of history...
Summer is here, and for many Americans, that means it’s time for a vacation!
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| New Smyrna Beach, FL |
Summer vacations can be as simple as a day trip to the beach, or as entailed as an extended holiday in a far off country. But vacations weren’t always as commonplace as they are now.
According to Cindy Sondik Aron’s book Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States, Colonial America thought vacations were equivalent to idle time. They believed that work made a person closer to God and so only the lazy took off time from work.
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| Hot Springs |
By the end Eighteenth century, it became fashionable for the wealthy elite in America to take medical vacations. Hot spring resorts were the Victorian’s equivalent to our Disney World. Granted most of the hot springs bathers had no serious medical needs, but being seen at a hot springs resort was the trendy thing to do in that day.
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| The Arlington Hotel |
In 1875, the three-story, one hundred and twenty room hotel, The Arlington opened in Hot Springs, Arizona. The state of the art resort boasted gas lamps in every guest room, a grand court between the structures’ two wings and colonial porches that ran the full length of the building to Hot Springs Mountain. In the late 1880s, approximately a hundred more rooms, a new dining room with electric lights, and another parlor were added.
In 1893, the original building was razed to make way for a new 300-room Spanish Renaissance structure. The new Arlington was referred to as “the most elegant and complete hotel in America” in Charles Cutter’s 1892 Guide Book.
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| The Ponce de Leon Hotel |
Close to the turn of the century, East coast, ocean resorts became popular. Like the hot springs hotels, these catered to the rich and famous Victorian.
The Ponce de León Hotel was an exclusive hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler. The building was completed in 1888 and was the first of its kind constructed entirely of concrete and local coquina stone. The hotel was wired for electricity at the onset, with the power being supplied by D.C. generators from Flagler's friend, Thomas Edison. Henry M. Flagler had to hire a special staff to turn power on and off for his residents who were too afraid to touch the switches. The building and grounds of the hotel are today a part of Flagler College.
By the 1950’s, middle-class America had discovered the advantages of taking time from work to vacation, and theme parks began to grow in popularity. Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio, Six Flags over Georgia, Disneyland California, Disney World in Orlando, and on the west coast of Florida, Busch Gardens, these are just a few of the thrill seekers destinations.
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| Old Advertisement |
Interestingly, 1947, Weeki Wachee State Park in Hernando County Florida, boasted the only mermaid adventure show in America and people flocked to watch the magic of mermaids “dance” underwater.
My family and I just got home from a week trip to our home state, Michigan. We stopped in Sault Saint Marie, Mackinaw Island, and Saint Ignace. We loved every moment and are already planning to return next year. This time we want to travel further into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I can’t wait!
Are you taking a holiday this summer? Someplace new or are you returning to a favorite destination? I’d love hear about your adventures! Will you share your vacation plans with us?
Remember, for safety reasons, never post on any website or social media when you plan to be away from home.
Though vacations have changed through the course of time, one thing has stayed the same . . . we come home refreshed and ready to return to work so we can save our money for the next adventure.
I wish you happy and safe summer adventures, HHH readers!
