Henry B. Plant
Encyclopedia
Henry Bradley Plant was involved with many transport
ation projects, mostly railroads
, in the U.S. state
of Florida
. Eventually he owned the Plant System
of railroads which became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
. Plant City, located near Tampa
, was named after him.
of railroads and steamboats. He was born in Branford, Conn., the son of Betsey (Bradley) and Anderson Plant, a farmer in good circumstances. He was the descendant of John Plant who probably emigrated from England and settled at Hartford, Conn., about 1639. When the boy was six, his father died. Several years later his mother married again and took him to live first at Martinsburg, N.Y.
, and later at New Haven, Conn., where he attended a private school. His grandmother, who hoped to make a clergyman of him, offered him an education at Yale College
, but, impatient to begin an active career, he got a job as captain's boy, deck hand, and man-of-all-work on a steamboat plying between New Haven and Hartford.
. This line of business, hitherto neglected, he organized effectively, and, when it was taken over by the Adams Express Company
and later transferred from steamboats to railroads, he went along with it. After a few years he was put in charge of the old York office of the company. In 1853 his wife, Ellen Elizabeth (Blackstone) Plant, to whom he had been married in 1842, was ordered South for her health. Several months spent near Jacksonville, then a tiny hamlet, impressed the shrewd Yankee with the possibilities of the future development of Florida
.
The next year he became the general superintendent of the Adams Express Company for the territory south of the Potomac
and Ohio
rivers. In the face of great difficulties he successfully organized and extended express service in this region, where transportation facilities, although rapidly growing, were still deficient and uncoordinated. At the approach of the Civil War
the directors of Adams Express, fearing the confiscation of their Southern properties, decided to transfer them to Plant. With the Southern stockholders of the company he organized in 1861 the Southern Express Company, a Georgia
corporation, and became president. His company acted as agent for the Confederacy
in collecting tariffs and transferring funds. In 1863, following a serious illness, he took an extended vacation in Europe
, and he returned by way of Canada
.
sales in 1879 and 1880 the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. With these as a nucleus he began building along the southern Atlantic seaboard
a transportation system that twenty years later included fourteen railway companies with 2,100 miles of track, several steamship lines, and a number of important hotels. In 1882 he organized, with the assistance of Northern capitalists (among whom were M.K. Jesup, W.T. Walters, and Henry Morrison Flagler
, who himself would be instrumental in the development of Florida's east coast) the Plant Investment Company, a holding company
for the joint management of the various properties under his control. He reconstructed and extended several small railroads so as to provide continuous service across the state, and by providing better connections with through lines to the North he gave Florida orange growers quicker and cheaper access to Northern markets. Tampa, then a village of a few hundred inhabitants, was made the terminus of his southern Florida railroad and also the home port for a new line of steamships to Havana.
For the accommodation of winter visitors he built in Tampa, in the style of a Moorish palace, an enormous hotel costing $2,500,000. The hotel was called the Tampa Bay Hotel and was famous for its fanciful Moorish and Victorian architecture. The hotel now serves as the main building for the University of Tampa
and houses the Henry B. Plant Museum
. Another large, Victorian-style hotel established by Plant during the 1890s was the Belleview Biltmore near Clearwater, Florida
.
The subsequent growth in wealth and population of Florida and other states tributary to the Plant System made its founder one of the richest and most powerful men in the South. A good physical inheritance, preserved by temperate habits, made it possible for Henry Plant to keep working until almost eighty years of age.
Henry Plant built eight hotels, including several in Tampa, Florida
and the new town of Port Tampa, which he built at the end of his rail line. His most prized hotel was the Tampa Bay Hotel
, a lavish resort built right across the Hillsborough River
from Tampa. Built at a cost of $3 million, it was said to be an attempt to compete with fellow industrialist Henry M. Flagler, who was developing Florida's east coast.
In his will he attempted to prevent the partition of his properties to the value of about $10,000,000 by forming a trust for the benefit of a great-grandson, but the will was contested by his widow and declared invalid under the laws of the state of New York. This decision made possible the consolidation of his railroads with other properties to form the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
, today a key portion of the Florida operations of CSX Transportation
.
Plant's son, Morton Freeman Plant (1852–1918), was vice-president of the Plant Investment Company from 1884 to 1902 and attained distinction as a yachtsman. He was part owner of the Philadelphia baseball club in the National League
, and sole owner of the New London club in the Eastern League
. Of the younger Plant's many gifts to hospitals
and other institutions the most notable were the three dormitories and the unrestricted gift of $1,000,000 to the Connecticut College for Women
. His former 1905 mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City is now the home of Cartier
.
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
ation projects, mostly railroads
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
, in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Eventually he owned the Plant System
Plant System
The Plant System was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system, named after its owner, Henry B...
of railroads which became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
. Plant City, located near Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
, was named after him.
Early life
Henry Bradley Plant was founder of the Plant SystemPlant System
The Plant System was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system, named after its owner, Henry B...
of railroads and steamboats. He was born in Branford, Conn., the son of Betsey (Bradley) and Anderson Plant, a farmer in good circumstances. He was the descendant of John Plant who probably emigrated from England and settled at Hartford, Conn., about 1639. When the boy was six, his father died. Several years later his mother married again and took him to live first at Martinsburg, N.Y.
Martinsburg, New York
Martinsburg is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 1,249 at the 2000 census. The town is named after founding father, Walter Martin....
, and later at New Haven, Conn., where he attended a private school. His grandmother, who hoped to make a clergyman of him, offered him an education at Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, but, impatient to begin an active career, he got a job as captain's boy, deck hand, and man-of-all-work on a steamboat plying between New Haven and Hartford.
Pre Civil War
Among his various duties was the care of express parcelsExpress mail
In most postal systems express mail refers to an accelerated delivery service for which the customer pays a surcharge and receives faster delivery. Express mail is a service for domestic mail and is governed by a country's own postal administration...
. This line of business, hitherto neglected, he organized effectively, and, when it was taken over by the Adams Express Company
Adams Express Company
The Adams Express Company is a publicly traded diversified equity fund that traces its roots to a 19th century freight and cargo transport company. The Company uses a conservative investment philosophy, and the portfolio is managed with the expectation that it will generate solid returns with...
and later transferred from steamboats to railroads, he went along with it. After a few years he was put in charge of the old York office of the company. In 1853 his wife, Ellen Elizabeth (Blackstone) Plant, to whom he had been married in 1842, was ordered South for her health. Several months spent near Jacksonville, then a tiny hamlet, impressed the shrewd Yankee with the possibilities of the future development of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
The next year he became the general superintendent of the Adams Express Company for the territory south of the Potomac
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
and Ohio
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
rivers. In the face of great difficulties he successfully organized and extended express service in this region, where transportation facilities, although rapidly growing, were still deficient and uncoordinated. At the approach of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
the directors of Adams Express, fearing the confiscation of their Southern properties, decided to transfer them to Plant. With the Southern stockholders of the company he organized in 1861 the Southern Express Company, a Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
corporation, and became president. His company acted as agent for the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
in collecting tariffs and transferring funds. In 1863, following a serious illness, he took an extended vacation in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and he returned by way of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Post Civil War
After the war, the railroads of the South were practically ruined and many railroads went bankrupt in the depression of 1873. In this situation he found his opportunity. Convinced of the eventual economic revival of the South, he bought at foreclosureForeclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
sales in 1879 and 1880 the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. With these as a nucleus he began building along the southern Atlantic seaboard
Atlantic Seaboard
The Atlantic seaboard watershed is a watershed of North America along both*the Atlantic Canada coast south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence Watershed &*the East Coast of the United States north of the watershed of the Okeechobee Waterway....
a transportation system that twenty years later included fourteen railway companies with 2,100 miles of track, several steamship lines, and a number of important hotels. In 1882 he organized, with the assistance of Northern capitalists (among whom were M.K. Jesup, W.T. Walters, and Henry Morrison Flagler
Henry Morrison Flagler
Henry Morrison Flagler was an American tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer and partner of John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil. He was a key figure in the development of the eastern coast of Florida along the Atlantic Ocean and was founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway...
, who himself would be instrumental in the development of Florida's east coast) the Plant Investment Company, a holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
for the joint management of the various properties under his control. He reconstructed and extended several small railroads so as to provide continuous service across the state, and by providing better connections with through lines to the North he gave Florida orange growers quicker and cheaper access to Northern markets. Tampa, then a village of a few hundred inhabitants, was made the terminus of his southern Florida railroad and also the home port for a new line of steamships to Havana.
For the accommodation of winter visitors he built in Tampa, in the style of a Moorish palace, an enormous hotel costing $2,500,000. The hotel was called the Tampa Bay Hotel and was famous for its fanciful Moorish and Victorian architecture. The hotel now serves as the main building for the University of Tampa
University of Tampa
The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...
and houses the Henry B. Plant Museum
Henry B. Plant Museum
The Henry B. Plant Museum is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa’s campus, at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard. The museum focuses on the turn of the century Victorian lifestyle of the old Tampa Bay Hotel’s guests...
. Another large, Victorian-style hotel established by Plant during the 1890s was the Belleview Biltmore near Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
.
The subsequent growth in wealth and population of Florida and other states tributary to the Plant System made its founder one of the richest and most powerful men in the South. A good physical inheritance, preserved by temperate habits, made it possible for Henry Plant to keep working until almost eighty years of age.
Later life
His first wife died in February 1861, and in 1873 he married Margaret Josephine Loughman, the daughter of Martin Loughman of New York City, who with one of his two sons survived him.Henry Plant built eight hotels, including several in Tampa, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
and the new town of Port Tampa, which he built at the end of his rail line. His most prized hotel was the Tampa Bay Hotel
Henry B. Plant Museum
The Henry B. Plant Museum is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa’s campus, at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard. The museum focuses on the turn of the century Victorian lifestyle of the old Tampa Bay Hotel’s guests...
, a lavish resort built right across the Hillsborough River
Hillsborough River (Florida)
The Hillsborough River is a river located in the state of Florida in the USA. It arises in the Green Swamp near the juncture of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties, and flows through Pasco and Hillsborough Counties to an outlet in the city of Tampa on Tampa Bay. The name Hillsborough River first...
from Tampa. Built at a cost of $3 million, it was said to be an attempt to compete with fellow industrialist Henry M. Flagler, who was developing Florida's east coast.
In his will he attempted to prevent the partition of his properties to the value of about $10,000,000 by forming a trust for the benefit of a great-grandson, but the will was contested by his widow and declared invalid under the laws of the state of New York. This decision made possible the consolidation of his railroads with other properties to form the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
, today a key portion of the Florida operations of CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
.
Plant's son, Morton Freeman Plant (1852–1918), was vice-president of the Plant Investment Company from 1884 to 1902 and attained distinction as a yachtsman. He was part owner of the Philadelphia baseball club in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
, and sole owner of the New London club in the Eastern League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
. Of the younger Plant's many gifts to hospitals
Morton Plant Hospital
Morton Plant Hospital is a 687 bed hospital at 300 Pinellas Street in Clearwater, Florida. Morton Plant is community-based and provides services in more than fifty specialty areas. This hospital is part of the greater...
and other institutions the most notable were the three dormitories and the unrestricted gift of $1,000,000 to the Connecticut College for Women
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
. His former 1905 mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City is now the home of Cartier
Cartier SA
Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...
.
Honors
- Henry B. Plant High SchoolHenry B. Plant High SchoolH.B. Plant High School was opened in 1927 on South Himes Avenue in Tampa, Florida, United States. The school is named in honor of railroad and hotel tycoon Henry B. Plant. The school mascot is the Panther. The school motto is "Strength Through Unity." Plant High School currently has enrolled more...
in Tampa, FloridaTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
is named for him. - Henry B. Plant MuseumHenry B. Plant MuseumThe Henry B. Plant Museum is located in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa’s campus, at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard. The museum focuses on the turn of the century Victorian lifestyle of the old Tampa Bay Hotel’s guests...
in Tampa, FloridaTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
is dedicated to his life.
External links
- Henry B. Plant Museum at the University of TampaUniversity of TampaThe University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...