Florida

Florida attained statehood in 1845, yet not until a pair of railroad barons built lines down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the late 1800s and early 1900s did the state take off, spurring the phenomenal growth of what’s now the third-most populous state.

[SEE: What Florida Is Doing to Combat the Coronavirus]

Henry Flagler arrived aboard the first train to Key West, southernmost point of the U.S., in 1912, marking completion of his Florida East Coast Railway linking the East Coast from north to south. In his path, he left grand hotels – the Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, and the Breakers and Royal Poinciana in what became known as Palm Beach. Henry Plant pushed rail lines down the West Coast.

With more than 100 million visitors a year to its beaches, major amusement parks centered around Orlando and cruise ships departing from ports on both coasts, tourism is a major contributor to Florida's gross domestic product. The state’s agriculture leads the Southeast in farm income, with Florida groves producing about two-thirds of the oranges in the U.S. and a winter vegetable industry that makes agriculture a year-round enterprise.

Tourism, which pays a sizable share of the state’s sales tax, also has enabled Florida to remain among the states without a personal income tax – adding a lure as the nation’s leading retirement haven.

It’s 792 miles by land from Pensacola in the far northwestern Panhandle to Key West at the end of the archipelago that stretches south of Miami, and along the way there is no natural elevation higher than 345 feet – on a ridge of the Panhandle. No state has a lower peak. The state has 1,197 miles of coastline and a land mass of 53,630 square miles.

With several large cities, the state also has a sizable system of state universities and community colleges. The University of Florida in Gainesville and Florida State University in Tallahassee have been rivaled in enrollment by the University of South Florida in Tampa, University of Central Florida in Orlando, and Florida International University in Miami. Among the best known private institutions: University of Miami.