Jacksonville, Florida
Florida folk musician Gamble Rogers died on this date in 1991. While Rogers was camping at Flagler Beach, a young girl ran to him, begging him to help her father, who was in trouble in rough surf. Despite suffering from spinal arthritis that had been Read More …
Edward William Bok (born Eduard Willem Gerard Cesar Hidde Bok) was born in Den Helder, Netherlands, on this date in 1863. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1870 when he was only six years old. Bok became a world-renowned editor and Read More …
French corsair (privateer) Louis-Michel Aury, along with Scottish adventurer Gregor MacGregor, raised the flag of the revolutionary republic of Mexico over Amelia Island in northeast Florida on this date, in 1817, beginning a brief occupation of the island. The occupation did not last long and Read More …
Crowds gathered on this date in 1951 at the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publishing of the tune “Old Folks at Home.” Commonly known by its first line, “Way Down upon the Read More …
The Miami Seaquarium opened its doors on this date in 1955. The 38-acre facility, located on Virginia Key in Miami, is the oldest oceanarium in the United States. The Seaquarium is home to fish, sharks, sea turtles, birds, and manatees, as well as other marine Read More …
The Treaty of Moultrie Creek between the Seminole Indians and the U.S. government was signed on this date in 1823 as a result of the U.S. acquisition of Florida two years earlier. Terms stipulated in the treaty included the concentration of the Seminoles onto a Read More …
The USS “Florida” (BB-30), a dreadnought battleship, was commissioned into the United States Navy on this date in 1911. She was armed with a main battery of ten 12-inch guns, sixteen 5-inch guns, and two torpedo tubes. The USS Florida served during World War I Read More …
The city of St. Augustine was established on this date in 1565. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sighted land on August 28. He named the site San Augustín after Augustine of Hippo. Menéndez sailed through the inlet into Matanzas Bay and disembarked near the Timucua town Read More …
The infamous “Labor Day” hurricane made landfall near Craig Key in the Florida Keys on this date in 1935. It was the third most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, making landfall as a Category 5 storm with winds exceeding 156 mph. A ten-car evacuation train Read More …
The Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on its first mission (41-D), to deploy three communications satellites on this date in 1984. Since that inaugural flight, Discovery flew 149 million miles during 39 missions and completed 5,830 orbits of the earth, during 365 Read More …
Today in 1965 The USPS issued a 5-cent stamp commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America; St. Augustine. The stamp was made available at the St. Augustine post office. A stamp identical in design, except Read More …
On this date in 1966 the Pioneer 7 satellite lifted off from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch vehicle was a Thor-Delta E rocket. Pioneer 7 was the second in a series of solar orbiters designed to measure Read More …
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Florida’s Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1896. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for her best-selling novel, “The Yearling.” Rawlings lived in Cross Creek, Florida, where she wrote six novels, a volume of short Read More …
Today in 1958 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on this date. The “Space Age” changed Florida forever, drawing thousands of new workers to the state and transforming Cape Canaveral into a Read More …
The “Gainesville Sun” was first published on this date in 1876. Originally called the “Gainesville Times,” it was bought and sold a number of times over the course of the next few decades, and was known at different points as “The Gainesville Sun and Bee” Read More …
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on this date in 1983. The flight (STS-7) lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:33 UTC and flew over 2.5 million miles in six days. During this historic flight, the crew Read More …
Thousands of Floridians, and men from other states who had trained in Florida, took part in the largest amphibious military operation in human history on the Normandy coast of France 76 years ago on this date in 1944. Over 150,000 Allied troops participated in what Read More …
Today in 1963 The Florida Supreme Court responded, in a 5-2 decision in the Green v. American Tobacco Company suit, with the opinion that cigarette companies are not liable for the deaths of cigarette consumers. However they did argue, for the first time, that cigarettes Read More …