Florida Before Flagler: Photographs by Hugo Meyer

Florida Before Flagler presents a striking visual record of Northeast Florida in the years before the transformative influence of Henry Flagler.

Beginning in the late 1880s, Flagler reshaped Florida’s Atlantic coast through the expansion of the Florida East Coast Railway and the construction of grand resort hotels. These developments transformed the region into a destination for wealthy northern tourists and spurred rapid urban and economic growth.

Before this wave of modernization, photographer Hugo Meyer documented a markedly different Florida during his visits in the 1870s and 1880s. Published in guidebooks and as stereographs, his photographs offered armchair travelers in the North an immersive glimpse of distant places. In an era before mass tourism, such images served not only as entertainment but also as powerful tools of visual promotion, shaping public perception of destinations such as St. Augustine and Palatka.

Meyer’s photographs present the people, streetscapes, and natural landscape at a pivotal moment in history. They preserve a vision of Northeast Florida on the cusp of dramatic change, providing a compelling counterpoint to the opulent resort landscape that would soon redefine the region.

Support for the exhibition comes from the St. Johns Cultural Council and the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture; the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; and the National Endowment for the Arts.