Henry Haines

Henry Stevens Haines (November 21, 1836 – November 3, 1923), was an accomplished engineer, a Colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and an important developer of railroads in the South. He played an essential role in the development of the Plant System of railroads. Haines City, Florida is named after him. Lake Haines, on the Chain of Lakes in Winter Haven, Florida is also named after him.

Henry Haines was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. However, he grew up in Savannah, Georgia. At age 21, he married Elizabeth J. Owens from Charleston, South Carolina. They had four children together. After his first wife died from yellow fever, Haines married Anna H. Davies, daughter of a prominent Episcopalian Bishop from Michigan. They had two sons together.

Haines continued to work actively on the railroad until age 58. After retiring he spent several years traveling Europe. Col. Haines died shortly before his 87th birthday, having lived to an unusually old age for that time.

During the 1850s, Haines worked as a railroad superintendent in South Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the confederate Army, and was given the rank of Colonel. He served as a logistical officer, maintaining military transport and supply lines in the Carolinas. His work during the war mostly focused on the railroad system. By the end of the war, he was an expert on railroad construction and management. He was said to be able to "lay track, run an engine, mend a boiler, issue payroll, and balance the books - all in the same morning".

After the war, having lost his fortune and wife, he was greatly discouraged. He then worked for the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, helping to re-build the railroad system in the south. He eventually became employed by Henry Plant, as the great railroad magnate purchased many smaller railroads all across the South. Col. Haines quickly became Plant's most trusted employee, and played an important part in the development of the Plant System of railroads. He served as a general manager and vice-president of Henry Plant's railroads, and had an office in New York City. Col. Haines worked for Henry Plant until his retirement in 1894.

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