Join Heather Trubee Brown, Curator of Education of the Henry B. Plant Museum, Tampa, Florida, as she explores Plant's impact in Georgia and beyond during the late 19th century. Hosted by the City of Savannah Municpal Archives, in parternship with LePageville Memorial Cemetery, Inc.

In 1879, Henry Plant purchased the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad for $300,000 cash at an auction on the steps of the Savannah courthouse. Motivated by the desire to foster development in the South following the Civil War and recognizing that the development of a continuous rail system was the means by which to encourage it, he purchased bankrupt lines and built new connections throughout the Southeast. Twenty years later, his railroad and steamship empire stretched along the Atlantic coast of the United States boasting more than 5,000 miles of railroad track and steamship lines. In the South, he established four hospitals and accented his Florida rail lines with eight resort hotels. Plant concentrated his efforts in Florida, but Savannah was a vital connection point for the Plant System as his gateway to Florida. The city also bears witness to Plant's "ahead-of-his-time" approach to promoting employee well-being.