The idea of draining and reclaiming the Everglades had begun to take hold during this period, especially following the Hamilton Disston land purchase of 1881–1883, in which the Pennsylvania industrialist acquired four million acres of central and southern Florida. Disston’s drainage experiments demonstrated both the possibilities and the challenges of transforming the wetlands into farmland.
By 1890, discussions of “reclamation” were common among Florida’s political leaders and entrepreneurs. The state government viewed the Everglades as a key to future prosperity, though few understood the ecological consequences of such ambitions. The Everglades of 1890, wild and largely untouched, symbolized both Florida’s natural beauty and the relentless drive of human ambition to reshape it.
Tourism and the Birth of the Florida Dream
Tourism in 1890 Florida was not yet the mass phenomenon it would become, but the seeds had been sown. The combination of warm winters, scenic beauty, and railroad access began attracting wealthy northerners seeking refuge from the cold.
Flagler’s hotels in St. Augustine epitomized this new leisure culture. Visitors from New York, Boston, and Chicago arrived by Pullman car to bask in the subtropical splendor of palm trees and ocean breezes. Guidebooks and travel writers of the time described Florida as “America’s Eden,” a place of health and rejuvenation.
Beyond the luxury resorts, simpler tourist colonies emerged along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Fishing camps, hunting lodges, and mineral springs drew those in search of adventure or healing. White Springs, on the Suwannee River, and Green Cove Springs, near Jacksonville, became renowned for their supposed medicinal waters.
By 1890, Florida’s image as a paradise was taking shape—a mythic identity that would define it for generations to come. shutdown123