Jupiter & Lake Worth Railway

The Jupiter & Lake Worth Railway operated from 1889 to 1895. It was a narrow gauge steam railroad that connected Indian River with Lake Worth from Jupiter to Juno, a distance of eight miles. The railroad was operated by the Indian River Steamship Company and its parent company, the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway. The terminal at Jupiter was constructed beside the steamboat wharf. British writer Julian Ralph wrote about the railway in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in March 1893, describing it as the "Celestial Line" because of its stations at Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Juno, from north to south. Venus and Mars were little more than platforms along the route. The small train could not turn around, so it drove backwards on the trip northward to Jupiter. In 1889, the town of Juno was elected to be the county seat of Dade County primarily because of the railway terminal there. The small railroad went out of business shortly after Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway began carrying passengers south to the Lake Worth region. The Expedition party travelled on the train from Juno to Jupiter.

Credits:

• Photo of Jupiter and Lake Worth R.R. train No. 2 at Jupiter, W.H. Jackson and Company, circa 1889-1895, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Sources:

• The Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway 'The Celestial Railroad,'" TAPLINES, Donald R. Hensley, Jr.
• "Steamboats and Railways," Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum
• "Retracing the Celestial Railroad," by Geoffrey Lynfield, Tequesta, No. 44, 1984
• "The Celestial Railroad to Juno," by N.D. Shappee, Florida Historical Quarterly Vol. 40, April 1962.
• Correct map of Florida : season of 1894-5 : showing the Tropical Trunk Line : comprising the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West R'y, the Florida Southern Railroad Co., Indian River Steamboat Company, Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway, Lake Worth steamers, and connections : leading from Jacksonville to the east coast, the west coast, the south coast.

References in the Texts:

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• April 15, Friday

For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015