Built by John Anderson and J. D. Price, the hotel opened on January 1, 1888. By spring of 1889, the
Florida East Coast Railway extended its service from
Jacksonville to
Daytona, and
railroad magnate Henry Flagler bought The Ormond Hotel and enlarged it to handle 600 guests. It became one in a series of his hotels positioned along the line to accommodate his passengers, including
The Ponce De León Hotel in
St. Augustine,
The Royal Poinciana Hotel and
The Breakers Hotel in
Palm Beach, and
The Royal Palm Hotel in
Miami. In 1914,
John D. Rockefeller arrived at The Ormond Hotel for the winter season, and rented an entire floor for his staff and himself. After four seasons at the hotel, he bought
The Casements, a nearby estate also beside the
Halifax River. On November 24, 1980, The Ormond Hotel was added to the
U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 1992, the structure was razed to the ground to make way for a
condominium. The original
cupola now stands in Fortunato Park, directly west of the site of the former hotel. ==References==