Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way
P.O. Box 969
Palm Beach, Florida 33480
(561) 655-2833
(561) 655-2826
mail@flaglermuseum.us
www.flaglermuseum.us
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History of the Flagler Museum
Whitehall, a National Historic Landmark, was built by Henry Flagler as a wedding present for his bride, Mary Lily Kenan. When the estate was completed in 1902, it was hailed by the New York Herald as “grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world.” The 55-room mansion was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the prominent architectural firm of John Carrère and Thomas Hastings. Flagler’s impact on American culture and state history is dramatic, including being the legal mind behind the Standard Oil Company and the primary developer of Florida. His Florida East Coast Railway and the luxury hotels he built along the way, linked the entire east coast of Florida, establishing agriculture and tourism as Florida’s leading industries and Palm Beach as one of the world’s great winter resorts. Flagler died in Palm Beach in 1913. In 1917, Flagler’s wife’s niece inherited the property, which was later sold and operated as the Whitehall Hotel from 1925-1959. On June 5, 1959, Jean Flagler Matthews, who had learned of the estate’s potential destruction and purchased the property, formed a nonprofit corporation, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Inc. The following year, Whitehall was opened to the public as the Flagler Museum, with the mission, “to preserve, research and interpret: Whitehall; the associated collections; and materials related to the life of Henry Morrison Flagler; as unique and important elements of Florida’s history and America’s Gilded Age.” Today, the Flagler Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, houses over 30,000 collections objects and 1,053 linear feet of archival material, including manuscripts, ephemera, maps, architectural drawings, photographs, and publications interpreting Flagler’s life, the history of Whitehall, and America’s Gilded Age. The Museum presents educational programs year-round, including exhibits, lectures, concerts, and special events all related to America’s Gilded Age.
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