| Dr. Andrew Anderson |
| The Friend and Associate of Henry Flagler: Dr. Andrew Anderson (1839-1924)
In the words of James Ingraham, one of Flagler’s most trusted lieutenants: “Perhaps no one possessed Mr. Flagler’s entire confidence and esteem to a greater extent than Dr. Andrew Anderson. Mr. Flagler talked over with Dr. Anderson, perhaps more fully than anyone else, his vision for St. Augustine, beautified on lines that would not materially interfere with the ancient landmarks of the city, but would, as it were, combine the utmost degree of advanced ideas for the comfort and pleasure of the American people with that charm that the individuality of the old town possessed in itself” Dr. Anderson was a native St. Augustinian born to northern parents in 1839. A Princeton University graduate, he continued his education in medicine at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons during the Civil War. This enabled him to neither take part in the Union Army against his neighbors or fight with his neighbors against his country. Dr. Anderson’s family home was Markland. His father started the house in October, 1839, and it would be 1900 before Dr. Anderson completed the mansion (long after it had ceased being a plantation.) The Ponce de Leon Hotel was built on part of the original Anderson plantation land. During Reconstruction, Dr. Anderson played a vital role in the community, serving as County Commissioner for several terms. In the years that followed, his experience in Republican Party politics did not disqualify him from post-Reconstruction political participation. (He served as Mayor of St. Augustine in 1885 when hotels started.) In 1885, Henry Flagler paid a visit to this wealthy and important St. Augustine citizen and sketched out his vision for St. Augustine. At Markland the new business venture was articulated, and the marsh creek and orange groves next door became the location for the first part of the enterprise. Dr. Anderson became Flagler’s agent to purchase the land needed for the hotels. He purchased the Sunnyside Hotel located on the corner of Tolomato (Cordova) and King Streets for $20,000. He petitioned the city council to excavate Maria Sanchez Creek. Anderson deeded over part of his own property to Flagler. A family dispute was quickly settled and the land of Anderson’s half-sisters was sold to Flagler. The old cottage was moved across the new Sevilla Street to provide room for the Ponce de Leon gardens. Flagler added Malaga, Valencia, and Sevilla streets and widened King Street. Flagler looked on King Street as the Fifth Avenue of St. Augustine. In the 1880s and 1890s he took F. F. Smith as a partner in his medical practice. In the summer of 1888 they took a tour of Europe that included a visit to the island of Minorca. The tour visited various hospitals and famous baths of the continent in order to study methods of disease treatment. The various treatments of the Casino would be on recommendations from physicians. In addition to his medical duties including Alicia Hospital, Anderson would be a spokesperson for Flagler. Ingraham’s tribute to Dr. Anderson would list his role as “director in Mr. Flagler’s hotel and railway companies, quiet, efficient, a thinker who never antagonized, but whose advice was always sound and conservative.” Throughout Flagler’s life Dr. Anderson would be there to help him not only on business matters but also through Flagler’s commitment of Ida Alice, his estrangement with Harry , and his declining physical condition. At the end of his life he dedicated himself to civic improvement giving money for the World War I Flag Pole, the statue of Ponce de Leon, and the Lions at the Bridge of Lions. From Collection, St. Augustine Historical Society MC 13, Box 25, Florida East Coast Railway. Interview was with the Norwalk Reflector but clipping had no date. From Comments of the Public Press on the Death of Henry M. Flagler. St. Augustine Evening Record, November 11, 1921. He enlisted in the St. Augustine Blues in 1861 but paid another man to take his place. Part of Flagler College today. He would also open Cathedral Street to Tolomato (Cordova today). He had the name of Bronson Street changed to Granada Street and Tolomato to Cordova. He would be Dr. Frank Fremont Smith’s best man when Dr. Smith married Doreatha Grossman of New York on June 3, 1890. |
 |
| One of the lions from the Bridge of Lions |
| Ponce de Leon Statue |
 |
 |
 |
| World War I Flagpole and base |