Abstract
The role of the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad (FA&GC) in Florida’s development and politics, during the period beginning with the line’s incorporation in 1851 and lasting until its initial forced sale in 1868, was substantial and controversial. While the sixty-mile line was smaller than either the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad (P&G) or the Florida Railroad (FRR), its eastern terminus was Jacksonville which, only a village in 1851, rapidly developed into the principal port on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Equally propitious, its western end lay at Lake City on the edge of Florida’s rich plantation belt. The FRR’s terminus at Fernandina could not compare in potential to Jacksonville, and the P&G needed access to the latter port for the transshipment of cotton and other goods.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Jr., Canter
(1990)
"The Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, 1851-1868,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 69:
No.
4, Article 3.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol69/iss4/3
