Flagler County was created in 1917 from portions of southern St. Johns County and northern Volusia County. The county was named after Henry Morrison Flagler, a railroad and oil tycoon, who was a developer of the Florida East Coast Railway during the 1880s and 1900s. Bunnell, located 30 miles south of St. Augustine, was established as the county seat. Joseph Marion Hernandez, the first Hispanic to serve in the US Congress, had three successful sugar plantations in Flagler County until they were burned down by Native Americans in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. Marine Studios, later named Marineland, opened in 1938 as the world's first underwater motion picture studio. The economic driving force in the county until the early 1970s was its agriculture and forestry industry. In the late 1960s, International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) purchased 22,000 acres of timberland and established the retirement community of Palm Coast. Today, the county thrives upon successful real estate and service industries.

An exciting biography about the man who changed Florida's east coast with his hotels and his Florida East Coast Railway. Henry Morrison Flagler was already a millionaire when he first visited Florida in 1878. He liked what he saw. He came back and built railroads along the east coast so that others could more easily come. And he built grand hotels so that those who came had a beautiful place to stay. By the end of his long and productive life, he had built a railroad all the way to the very end of the Keys. It arrived in Key West in 1912. Henry Flagler was very determined and practical. He met all the great challenges he set for himself. Ages 9-12 Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

Flagler County, Florida: A Centennial History features the 100 year journey from a sparsely populated rural and coastal area to one of the fastest growing areas in the United States. Discover many fascinating stories and interesting places and then wonder how many of them remained so reclusive until now.

For 500 years, visitors to Florida have discovered magic. In Some Kind of Paradise, an eloquent social and environmental history of the state, Mark Derr describes how this exotic land is fast becoming a victim of its own allure. Written with both tenderness and alarm, Derr's book presents competing views of Florida: a paradise to be protected and nurtured or a frontier to be exploited and conquered.