The First Import
From Drake Lumber

The first load of freight into Key West arrived in the afternoon of the 22nd. It was a load of lumber from the Drake Lumber Company.

As it became clear that Flagler's railway would proceed south from Miami to Key West and not head across the Everglades to Snake Creek, communities began to spring up below Miami. One of these was Princeton, founded by Gaston Drake in 1903 and named after his alma mater. (Homestead was founded the same year as a community for railroad families.)

Drake even saw to it the buildings of his town were painted in Princeton colors­ black and orange. By 1904, he'd established a sawmill and lumber company processing Dade County pine­ the hardest wood yet known to man and impervious to termites. When the railroad construction reached Princeton, he opened a depot on the railroad line.

It was Drake's idea to claim the honor of shipping the first product into Key West, and he loaded down a freight car with lumber to be donated to the city. The city, in turn, chose to auction off the lumber and donate the proceeds to the Mercedes Hospital.

The Mercedes Hospital­ the Casa del Pobre­ was an outgrowth of the Beneficencia Cubana, a benevolent society formed by Key West women of Cuban descent for charitable work among the poor. By 1910, it was decided to open a hospital where indigents of all nationalities could receive the best in medical care and attention. Successful Key West cigar manufacturer E. H. Gato offered his former family home, at the corner of Division Street and Salt Pond Road, free of rent. In turn, the hospital was named for his wife, Mercedes. Another major contributor was Key West's mayor, Dr. Joseph N. Fogarty, who served as director of the hospital as well as donating his time and money.

By 1914, Drake Lumber was the most successful business in south Dade County. They supplied Miami, the Keys, and Cuba until the local supply was exhausted in 1923­ many homes in Key West still boast interiors of the gorgeous honey-colored wood. No further stands of the hard pine were ever found.

The Mercedes Hospital still stands today­ on Virginia Street, just east of White Street. It was moved to its present location around 1920 to make room for Bayview Park.