April
April 1, 1926: Air Mail service begins in four Florida cities
The U.S. Post Office contracted the air mail service with Florida Airways under the Kelly Act of February 2, 1925. The act was intended to "encourage commercial aviation" by authorizing the Postmaster General to contract with airlines to carry mail.
April 2, 1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida
While it has long been accepted that de Leon landed with his three caravels near St. Augustine and became the first European of record to see the peninsula, scholars have recently challenged details of that historical account.
April 3, 2006 - Gators win first-ever basketball title vs. UCLA, 73-57
At the time, Florida became only the seventh school to win national championships in basketball and football. But the milestones were only beginning.
April 4, 1933 - NASCAR 2nd generation leader Bill France Jr. is born
Under Bill France Jr.'s leadership, NASCAR expanded into one of the nation's most popular spectator sports.
April 5, 1925 - 'Great Miami Tornado' kills 5, wrecks 250 homes
A tornado that was later estimated to have spawned winds between 158 mph and 207 mph lumbered across a 10-mile stretch of then-rural Dade County, killing five, hospitalizing 35 and destroying an estimated 250 homes along its quarter-mile wide path.
April 6, 1959 - Seminoles vote to support building 'Alligator Alley'
The tribal council's vote indicated the council was willing to grant right-of-way across the Big Cypress Reservation. The tribe also decided that the expressway would be good for business in Big Cypress.
April 7, 1890 - Everglades crusader Marjory Stoneman Douglas born
Douglas, the "Grande Dame of the Everglades," whose 1947 book, "Everglades: River of Grass" reshaped the public's conception of the Everglades from a useless swamp to a vital component of the world's ecosystem, was born in Minneapolis.
April 8, 1923 - News heats up about 'lost' Tamiami trail blazers
It was a saga that drew news coverage not unlike today's lost Malaysian airliner story -- but with a likely happier ending.
April 9, 1921 - Whites expelled from West Palm Beach 'colored town'Apparently African Americans have been asking why they aren't allowed into the white section of town while whites are allowed into theirs.
April 10, 1766 - John Bartram ends journey to Carolinas, Ga., Florida
Bartram stayed in St. Augustine and converted his diary entries into a travel journal that was widely read in England and inspired aristocrats and merchants to acquire tracts of land in East Florida. Those investments led to the plantation era in Florida
April 11, 1986 - FBI shootout in Dade leads cops to seek more heat
A shootout between eight FBI agents and two serial bank robbers in unincorporated Dade County ended with two agents dead and five wounded and prompted law enforcement agencies to seek more powerful handguns.
April 12, 1981 - Columbia launches America back into space
Following a frustrating delay two days earlier, the United States' Space Shuttle program began as Columbia embarked upon its first mission
April 13, 1951 - Marion sheriff stabbed, shot to death by suspect
Marion County Sheriff Edward Porter Jr. was found savagely stabbed and shot to death in his wrecked car on an isolated road four miles west of Ocala.
April 14, 1528 - Failed conqueror Pánfilo de Narváez comes ashore
As we know, not everyone who shows up in Florida to restart their lives actually succeeds. Case in point: Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez.
April 15, 1896 - Henry Flagler's railroad arrives in Miami for first time
Flagler's train jump-started development of Miami into a real city. Its population increased from 260 in 1895 to 1,681 by 1900.
April 16, 1915 and 1917 - Aviation takes two steps forward
Milestones for aviation as Lt. Patrick Bellinger pilots the first catapult of a Curtiss AB-2 "flying boat" in Pensacola and news breaks in Miami that Curtiss plans a major expansion of his aviation training school there.
April 17, 1961 - U.S. launches failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba
The U.S., under President John F. Kennedy, failed to provide the military troops and air support necessary to defeat Castro's troops, and the ragtag group of exiles were defeated in three days.
April 18, 1957 - Florida to U.S.: Integration ruling unconstitutional
The Florida legislature joined other southern states in declaring it did not recognize as constitutional a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forcing states to integrate schools
April 19, 1930 - First Publix store incorporated in Winter HavenWith 1,080 stores today, it consistently ranks high in customer surveys of the best places to shop, and in employee surveys of the best places to work.
April 20, 1967 - Orange juice becomes official state beverage
In 1967, the Legislature declared "the juice obtained from mature oranges of the species Citrus sinensis and hybrids is hereby adopted as the official beverage of the State of Florida."
April 21, 1924 - NY's infamous 'Bobbed Haired Bandit' caught in Jax
She represented all that was troubling about flapper women, their worrisome streak of independence and lack of concern about a female's traditional role.
April 22, 2000 - Elian Gonzalez seized in raid, returned to Cuba
Members of the Cuban exile community reacted angrily after the raid, setting fires in the streets and struggling with riot police. More than 260 were arrested.
April 23, 1982 - Keys secede from Union, create Conch Republic
To this day the Conch Republic issues its own passports and every year during the week of April 23 there is an Independence Day celebration marking the birth of the first “sovereign state of mind.”
April 24, 1965 - Orlando honors astronaut with John Young Day
Young flew six times, including commanding the first Space Shuttle flight on April 12-14, 1981.
April 25, 1966 - Gov. Haydon Burns says his plane trailed by UFO
Gov. Burns and several aboard his plane, including four reporters, said two large lights followed the plane for about 40 miles.
April 26, 1920 - Crop shippers seizing ice, creating shortage
The state recently lifted an embargo on cabbage harvesting "and in the race to ship cabbage and fruit to the markets, the railroads are exercising their power of seizure of all ice necessary, with consequent inconvenience to the Florida public."
April 27, 1968 - 1,000 students help when FSU admin building burns
Students formed a human chain and rescued records and artwork while firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze
April 28, 1985 - World's tallest sand sculpture built at Treasure Island
The 37-foot-high creation called Bluebeard's Castle took 12 days, six front-end loaders, 4,000 tons of sand, 12 workers, and 500 volunteers to complete.
April 29, 1980 - U.S. braces for magnitude of Mariel Boatlift
Officially, the emigration wave began on April 20, 1980, when Cuban President Fidel Castro announced that all Cubans who wanted to leave for the U.S. were free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana.
April 30, 1915 - Broward County named after governor who drained 'Glades
Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, a former riverboat captain from Jacksonville, based his 1904 campaign for governor on the need to drain the Everglades in South Florida for agriculture and residential development.
The U.S. Post Office contracted the air mail service with Florida Airways under the Kelly Act of February 2, 1925. The act was intended to "encourage commercial aviation" by authorizing the Postmaster General to contract with airlines to carry mail.
April 2, 1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida
While it has long been accepted that de Leon landed with his three caravels near St. Augustine and became the first European of record to see the peninsula, scholars have recently challenged details of that historical account.
April 3, 2006 - Gators win first-ever basketball title vs. UCLA, 73-57
At the time, Florida became only the seventh school to win national championships in basketball and football. But the milestones were only beginning.
April 4, 1933 - NASCAR 2nd generation leader Bill France Jr. is born
Under Bill France Jr.'s leadership, NASCAR expanded into one of the nation's most popular spectator sports.
April 5, 1925 - 'Great Miami Tornado' kills 5, wrecks 250 homes
A tornado that was later estimated to have spawned winds between 158 mph and 207 mph lumbered across a 10-mile stretch of then-rural Dade County, killing five, hospitalizing 35 and destroying an estimated 250 homes along its quarter-mile wide path.
April 6, 1959 - Seminoles vote to support building 'Alligator Alley'
The tribal council's vote indicated the council was willing to grant right-of-way across the Big Cypress Reservation. The tribe also decided that the expressway would be good for business in Big Cypress.
April 7, 1890 - Everglades crusader Marjory Stoneman Douglas born
Douglas, the "Grande Dame of the Everglades," whose 1947 book, "Everglades: River of Grass" reshaped the public's conception of the Everglades from a useless swamp to a vital component of the world's ecosystem, was born in Minneapolis.
April 8, 1923 - News heats up about 'lost' Tamiami trail blazers
It was a saga that drew news coverage not unlike today's lost Malaysian airliner story -- but with a likely happier ending.
April 9, 1921 - Whites expelled from West Palm Beach 'colored town'Apparently African Americans have been asking why they aren't allowed into the white section of town while whites are allowed into theirs.
April 10, 1766 - John Bartram ends journey to Carolinas, Ga., Florida
Bartram stayed in St. Augustine and converted his diary entries into a travel journal that was widely read in England and inspired aristocrats and merchants to acquire tracts of land in East Florida. Those investments led to the plantation era in Florida
April 11, 1986 - FBI shootout in Dade leads cops to seek more heat
A shootout between eight FBI agents and two serial bank robbers in unincorporated Dade County ended with two agents dead and five wounded and prompted law enforcement agencies to seek more powerful handguns.
April 12, 1981 - Columbia launches America back into space
Following a frustrating delay two days earlier, the United States' Space Shuttle program began as Columbia embarked upon its first mission
April 13, 1951 - Marion sheriff stabbed, shot to death by suspect
Marion County Sheriff Edward Porter Jr. was found savagely stabbed and shot to death in his wrecked car on an isolated road four miles west of Ocala.
April 14, 1528 - Failed conqueror Pánfilo de Narváez comes ashore
As we know, not everyone who shows up in Florida to restart their lives actually succeeds. Case in point: Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez.
April 15, 1896 - Henry Flagler's railroad arrives in Miami for first time
Flagler's train jump-started development of Miami into a real city. Its population increased from 260 in 1895 to 1,681 by 1900.
April 16, 1915 and 1917 - Aviation takes two steps forward
Milestones for aviation as Lt. Patrick Bellinger pilots the first catapult of a Curtiss AB-2 "flying boat" in Pensacola and news breaks in Miami that Curtiss plans a major expansion of his aviation training school there.
April 17, 1961 - U.S. launches failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba
The U.S., under President John F. Kennedy, failed to provide the military troops and air support necessary to defeat Castro's troops, and the ragtag group of exiles were defeated in three days.
April 18, 1957 - Florida to U.S.: Integration ruling unconstitutional
The Florida legislature joined other southern states in declaring it did not recognize as constitutional a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forcing states to integrate schools
April 19, 1930 - First Publix store incorporated in Winter HavenWith 1,080 stores today, it consistently ranks high in customer surveys of the best places to shop, and in employee surveys of the best places to work.
April 20, 1967 - Orange juice becomes official state beverage
In 1967, the Legislature declared "the juice obtained from mature oranges of the species Citrus sinensis and hybrids is hereby adopted as the official beverage of the State of Florida."
April 21, 1924 - NY's infamous 'Bobbed Haired Bandit' caught in Jax
She represented all that was troubling about flapper women, their worrisome streak of independence and lack of concern about a female's traditional role.
April 22, 2000 - Elian Gonzalez seized in raid, returned to Cuba
Members of the Cuban exile community reacted angrily after the raid, setting fires in the streets and struggling with riot police. More than 260 were arrested.
April 23, 1982 - Keys secede from Union, create Conch Republic
To this day the Conch Republic issues its own passports and every year during the week of April 23 there is an Independence Day celebration marking the birth of the first “sovereign state of mind.”
April 24, 1965 - Orlando honors astronaut with John Young Day
Young flew six times, including commanding the first Space Shuttle flight on April 12-14, 1981.
April 25, 1966 - Gov. Haydon Burns says his plane trailed by UFO
Gov. Burns and several aboard his plane, including four reporters, said two large lights followed the plane for about 40 miles.
April 26, 1920 - Crop shippers seizing ice, creating shortage
The state recently lifted an embargo on cabbage harvesting "and in the race to ship cabbage and fruit to the markets, the railroads are exercising their power of seizure of all ice necessary, with consequent inconvenience to the Florida public."
April 27, 1968 - 1,000 students help when FSU admin building burns
Students formed a human chain and rescued records and artwork while firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze
April 28, 1985 - World's tallest sand sculpture built at Treasure Island
The 37-foot-high creation called Bluebeard's Castle took 12 days, six front-end loaders, 4,000 tons of sand, 12 workers, and 500 volunteers to complete.
April 29, 1980 - U.S. braces for magnitude of Mariel Boatlift
Officially, the emigration wave began on April 20, 1980, when Cuban President Fidel Castro announced that all Cubans who wanted to leave for the U.S. were free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana.
April 30, 1915 - Broward County named after governor who drained 'Glades
Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, a former riverboat captain from Jacksonville, based his 1904 campaign for governor on the need to drain the Everglades in South Florida for agriculture and residential development.
