Jacksonville, Florida
The first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Florida was established in Eastport near Jacksonville on this date in 1933. The CCC was a federal worker-relief program designed to get young men working on construction and conservation projects throughout the United States, as part of Read More …
The Florida State College for Women (FSCW) in Tallahassee was reorganized and renamed Florida State University (FSU) on this date in 1947. In response to the massive influx of World War II veterans returning to the state who were taking advantage of government-funded educational programs, Read More …
The first woman to break the speed of sound in an airplane, Jacqueline Cochran, was born in Muscogee, near Pensacola, on this date in 1906. Cochran began flying airplanes in the early 1930s after moving to New York, and was soon competing in a number Read More …
Two small French ships with 140 Huguenots onboard led by Jean Ribault, landed in Florida on this date in 1562. Using information gained from Verrazzano’s voyages to North America, Jean Ribault reached the coast of Florida near St. Augustine. He sailed northward to the mouth Read More …
The Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41), linking Miami and Naples through the , officially opened to travelers on this date in 1928. Construction on the east-west section of the road lasted for twelve years. Once it was completed, cars could travel directly between Naples and Miami Read More …
The Florida State Legislature designated orange juice as the official beverage of Florida on this date in 1967. Citrus has been an integral part of Florida’s history since the first Europeans arrived on its shores, and it remains an important component of Florida’s agricultural output Read More …
Citizens of Pensacola were still dealing with a large riot that was taking place in their city between electric streetcar employee union workers and strikebreakers from New York on this date in 1908. The strike began on April 6, shortly after workers at the Pensacola Read More …
Sigurd Olson “Sig” Haugdahl broke the land speed record at Daytona Beach on this date in 1922. Sig reached a speed of 180 miles per hour in a car he built named the “Wisconsin Special.” The car had an 836-cubic inch, 6-cylinder, airplane engine Read More …
The first report from the State Board of Health was released on this date in 1891. The establishment of the State Board of Health was in response to the public and political will to create a statewide agency to coordinate quarantine and disinfection efforts after Read More …
At least 500 people were arrested as a result. The riot started when a student lay in the middle of A1A and the police were forced to intervene. By the 1960s, sun, beaches, and beer made south Florida THE destination for college students on Spring Read More …
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés received his “asiento,” or settlement orders, from the Spanish government to travel to La Florida on this date in 1565. Two years earlier, Don Juan Menéndez, Pedro Menéndez’s only son, was lost in a wreck near the Bahamas and Menéndez was Read More …
Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play baseball in the Major Leagues, played his first Minor League exhibition game with the Montreal Royals against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Daytona Beach on this date in 1946. The following season, Robinson was called up to the Read More …
The keel of the USS “Florida” (BB-30) was laid during a ceremony at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on this date in 1909. It was a Florida-class dreadnought battleship which was commissioned in May of 1910. The ship had a displacement of 21,825 tons, was 521 Read More …
The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg first opened its doors on this date in 1982. The museum features the largest collection of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí’s artwork in North America. The pieces were collected by A. Reynolds Morse and Eleanor R. Morse, who began Read More …
Florida is admitted into the Union as the twenty-seventh state on this date in 1845! After over three centuries of Spanish rule, twenty years of British control, and almost twenty-five years as a U.S. territory, Florida became a U.S. state. Floridians had voted in a Read More …
Sculptor Augusta Christine Savage (née Fells) was born in Green Gove Springs on February 29, 1892. Savage was considered a preeminent contributor to the Harlem Renaissance movement of the early twentieth century. Her work was featured in many prominent shows, including the 1939 New York Read More …
Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general, was born in Pensacola on this date in 1920. He grew up in Florida and became interested in flying at a young age. He later graduated from the Tuskegee Institute Read More …
The Oversea Railroad, the final link in the Florida East Coast Railway, was completed on this date in 1912. The culmination of the decades-long vision of wealthy investor Henry M. Flagler, the Overseas Railroad stretched over 100 miles out into the open ocean, connecting Key Read More …