| In 1880, one of the first rail lines into Central Florida, the South Florida Railroad, was completed from Sanford to Maitland. By the time the railroad was purchased by the Henry B. Plant Investment Company in 1883, the line had been extended to Orlando. As part of the railroad and shipping giant, Plant System, the railway was extended into Tampa. Passengers, livestock and produce were required to make steamboat connections in Jacksonville to travel south to Sanford. In 1886, the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad reached Sanford. The narrow gauge rails were changed to standard gauge. By 1899, this line also became part of the Plant System. As the result of many rail mergers at the turn of the century, the Plant System consolidated into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902, and into the Seaboard Coastline by 1903. |
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