Legendary Florida Railroaders NOT Named Henry

 Part 1: October 2026, Dr. Hartwell C. Howard

There existed in 1880 Florida a stumbling block that would have prevented Henry Flagler and Henry Plant from achieving their celebrated railroad empire in the Sunshine State without one of them first resolving the problem. Either of the men of course could have resolved the stumbling block preventing railroad expansion in the 27^th State, but they didn’t need to, because the problem had been resolved before either ventured into Florida. Other Legendary Florida Railroaders had eliminated a New York Court Injunction that prevented Florida from building railroads, which then cleared the way for an unprecedented railroad building blitz during the 1880s. With the 1870 court injunction eliminated, a debt free Florida created the atmosphere where both Henry Flagler and Henry Plant eventually became legendary Florida railroaders. But we should never forget the amazing railroad men and women who came before, and after, the two prominent Henrys.

Railroads were critical to the early settlement of both Florida and the development of the United States west of the Mississippi. The importance of railroads was known before the Civil War, for it was the very reason David Yulee’s Sea-to-Sea Railroad was built. Connecting Fernandina with Cedar Key was built to improve the supply route between the east coast and the Mississippi River port at New Orleans. It was a strange twist of fate, therefore, that Yulee’s railroad would become a detriment to building other railroads throughout the State of Florida.

After the Civil War, Florida was unable to pay the bonds for the construction of the Sea-to-Sea Railroad. New York Capitalist Francis Vose, provider of the rails for Yulee’s train and holder of the construction bonds, filed for and received an injunction in 1870 preventing the State from issuing any public lands to railroad builders until his pre-Civil War debt was paid in full.

Issuing public land for completed railroad miles had become the typical method which States used to attract investors willing to pay for the railroad building costs. The free land could then be sold by the investors to increase the return on their initial investment. Without States granting right-of-way land for the track, and additional free land alongside the completed track, there was little incentive for private investors to front cash needed for the cost of railroad construction.

Florida, meanwhile, continued to become known as America’s Paradise; a land where freezing temperatures were unknown. Florida’s tropical paradise cured the sick and enabled Civil War Veterans to become wealthy as citrus farmers and town builders. But steamboats, the primary means of transportation prior to 1880, could not take settlers beyond the river landings. Sugar sand made land travel a challenge, leaving railroads the only solution for that time.

The desire to build Florida railroads was prevalent during the 1870s. The means to build them continued to be the major challenge.

The Doctor’s Cure:

Dr. Hartwell Carver Howard (1829-1922), a native of New York and by 1870 an accomplished Champlain County, Illinois physician, became one of many prospective railroad builders whose interest in Florida predated the first-ever arrival in Florida of Henry Flagler and Henry Plant.

Dr. Howard organized, on May 10, 1876, the Gainesville, Ocala & Charlotte Harbor Railroad (GO&CHRR). As the President of the new railroad, Howard was also prepared to confront the Francis Vose injunction that was preventing the construction of railroads in Florida.

The Florida Internal Improvement Fund (FIIF) had been established by the Florida Legislature in 1855. The sole purpose of the FIIF was improving the State’s transportation system. Chaired by the Governor, the FIIF was made up of Committee members who met monthly. Among their stated objectives was to determine the best way to utilize tens of thousands of state-owned acres in a way that would encourage the building of canals and railroads throughout the State.

At one FIIF 1877 meeting the Board listened as Dr. Hartwell C. Howard pitched his idea to allow the GO&CHRR to begin laying track despite the New York injunction. Dr. Howard offered an agreement whereby his railroad would be built with the State agreeing to issue his railroad land allotments after the Vose injunction was resolved. It was uncertain if the proposal violated the injunction, but it was also an idea worthy of consideration.

On December 22, 1877, months before Henry Flagler arrived in Florida for a first-time visit, a vacation he cut short because he was unhappy with what he found here, The Weekly Tribune reported “whenever the Gainesville, Ocala & Charlotte Harbor Railroad shall file a plat of their route to Tampa and Charlotte Harbor, the lands of the Internal Improvement Fund lying within six miles on each side of the route, and embraced in the odd numbered sections, will be reserved for sale for six months.” Governor Drew later vetoed the initial agreement because the railroad had planned a narrow-gauge track system, but the deal signaled that perhaps there was a way around the Vose Injunction. Negotiations continued.

The route of the GO&CHRR was a blessing to those trying to settle central and south Florida. Yulee’s Sea-to-Sea Railroad connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf via a depot stop in the town of Gainesville. The Gainesville, Ocala & Charlotte Harbor Railroad intended to depart Gainesville and head south through the center of the State. The latter, if built, would be a huge benefit in the ongoing struggle to encourage settlements in the State of Florida.

Persistent in a plan to construct a railroad down the middle of Florida paid off, and after both a route and name change, the GOCH&RR, now known as The Florida Southern Railway (FSRR), began clearing and grading for track. “By spring 1879,” wrote Stepanie Murrhy-Lupo in her book, All Aboard (2016), “the owners realized that traffic originating in Palatka was more promising than Gainesville. They designated Palatka the main line and Gainesville the branch. With grading well underway within a year, the company was ready to receive a shipment of iron rails”.

The Florida Southern Railway port on the St. Johns River at Palatka

Connecting Gainesville with Palatka on the St. Johns River in 1881, The Florida Southern Railway, under President Hartwell C. Howard, created new opportunities for towns along its entire route.

Stops included towns named for FSRR investors and employees, such as Francis, Hollister and Nathan Gruelle (later changed to Rochelle), and other towns including Keuka, Mannville, MacWilliams, and Interlachen, were each founded along a railroad route first imagined by Dr. Hartwell C. Howard. The route is now Florida’s State Road 20. (Towns in bold letters are included in Historic Florida Towns & Places, an encyclopedia of 625 Towns & Placenames throughout Florida)

Dr. Hartwell Howard, President of the company under both names, arrived in Florida at a time when the common belief was that a railroad could not be constructed. The railroad Dr. Howard built, however, created a vast new territory for growing citrus as well as the creation of towns – many of which were named for his investors. Even after the railroad continued building south from Gainesville, new towns were created along its route – new settlements created because of Dr. Howard's railroad.

My award-winning Historic Florida Towns & Places by R. L. Cronin

Vose Paid Off; Howard Retires:

Innovative thinking on Dr. Howard’s part established a Florida railroad despite the injunction that had been preventing others from forming new ventures for nearly a decade. Yet another creative thinker, Florida’s Governor William Bloxam, found a way to resolve the State's debt owed to Francis Vose, and by 1881 the Injunction was lifted, allowing Florida to use public lands to entice investors to build railroads. And boy, did they ever build a lot of railroads!

As for Dr. Hartwell C. Howard, he soon retired from both medicine and railroad building, and in 1885, homesteaded a Central Florida parcel on the southeast shore of Lake Ariana. Says the biography of Dr. Howard, “he donated 80 acres of his land to secure The South Florida Railroad through the town Auburndale”, a town he reportedly played a role in founding.

Dr. Howard first practiced medicine in Champaign, Illinois; where, as an entrepreneur, he also established the first steam-operated flour mill. He involved himself in improving the city, both in civic and education matters. The first “fire-proof” school built in the city, says his biography, was named for Dr. Howard. A Floridian during an important time in the history of our State, Dr. Hartwell Carver Howard eventually returned to his home in Champaign, where he died, on June 5, 1922.

Florida State 20 runs east from Gainesville to Palatka. A pretty drive today, the modern-day alignment of the road bypasses some of the historic towns established along Dr. Howard’s railroad route. But for those who turn off on some of the side roads, like Keuka Road, you can still be rewarded with an occasional glimpse of old Florida. Iron rails of the Florida Southern Railway once meandered through countless orange groves as it worked its way between the St. John’s River port town of Palatka and the City of Gainesville.

Florida Southern Railway Schedule, August 21, 1881

Florida history is right to remember the two Henrys, but we must also remember that Mr. Flagler had an advantage of immense wealth that he had amassed from his Standard Oil partnership with John D. Rockefeller, and that Henry Plant amassed his empire through consolidation of existing Floirida railroads that had failed.

The individual achievements of Flagler and Plant were legendary, but so too were the incredible accomplishments of countless other railroaders who dreamed a dream – and then went to work making their dreams a reality. This series, Legendary Florida Railroaders NOT named Henry, each month, will pay tribute to lesser known yet equally exceptional railroaders who truly made a difference in the development of our 27^th State.

One can view countless photos of locomotives and rail cars while touring Florida rail museums. This series aims to add names and faces of those who made it possible for the trains to travel through our state.

Part Two will be posted November 25, 2026 (or follow this Blog to receive a notification). Care to look over my history website? Visit www.CroninBooks.com