Braden to discuss Flagler's friendly rivalry at Feb. 19 lecture

Related Media

Susan Braden

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL (02/13/2013)(readMedia)-- Henry Plant and Henry Flagler were neighbors who lived one block away from each other on 5th Avenue in New York City before they became friendly rivals in the Florida hotel business, serving as an investor and board member of the Plant Investment Company, a few years before he decided to build his own hotels in St. Augustine.

Former Auburn University art professor Susan Braden will discuss the pair's relationship and their hotels when she speaks at Flagler College on Feb. 19.

Braden's book, "Architecture of Leisure: the Florida Resort Hotels of Henry Flagler and Henry Plant," is a comprehensive study of the railroad and hotel empires of Henry Plant and Henry Flagler and is considered the standard work on the subject.

Braden recently retired from full-time teaching after serving for many years on the faculty of Auburn University. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Art History from Florida State University and an M.A. from Northwestern.

Braden's "Entrepreneurs and Empires: Henry Flagler and Henry Plant in Florida" lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 19 in the Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College, 14 Granada St.

The event is part of "Celebrating the Legacy: 125 Years of the Hotel Ponce de Leon." The yearlong celebration will honor the legacy of Flagler's entrepreneurship and community-building. The founding partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, he launched a resort empire along Florida's east coast.

Visit www.ponce125.com for more details or call 904-819-6400.

___

Flagler College is an independent, four-year, comprehensive baccalaureate college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 24 majors, 29 minors and two pre-professional programs, the largest majors being business, education and communication. Small by intent, Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla. U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review regularly feature Flagler as a college that offers quality education at a relatively low cost; tuition is $23,690, including room and board. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for the historic beauty of its campus. The main building is Ponce de Leon Hall, built in 1887 as a luxury resort by Henry Flagler, who co-founded the Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller. For more on Flagler College, visit www.flagler.edu.