1993 – The newly formed Florida Marlins professional baseball team played their first ever regular season game on this date. The Marlins faced the Los Angeles Dodgers and won the game 6-3, with Charlie Hough as their starting pitcher. Although a rough first few seasons, the Marlins would go on to win the National League Pennant and the World Series twice (in 1997 against the Cleveland Indians and in 2003 against the New York Yankees) both seasons as wildcard teams.
1913 - Singer, actress and entertainer Julia Francis Langford, known simply as Frances Langford, was born in Lakeland in Polk County on this date. Langford was best known for her vocal ability on radio and her later appearances in movies such as Yankee Doodle dandy with actor James Cagney in 1942. Langford also toured extensively with comedian Bob Hope on U.S.O. tours around the world during WWII. Although Langford had a career in Hollywood, she spent much of her life in Jenson Beach Florida, donating thousands to many local organizations in the Martin County area.
1929 – Edna Giles Fuller, the first female member of the Florida Legislature gave her first formal speech to her fellow members of the State Legislator on this date. She was born in Lake City in 1874 but soon moved to Orlando to live with her uncle. She briefly attended Rollins College before attending Centenary in Cleveland, Ohio. Fuller, who represented Orange County, championed women’s suffrage and the right for women to serve on juries. She also encouraged women’s involvement in the war effort during the Second World War.
1836 - The United States Congress was petitioned today for land grants to fund the creation of seminaries in East and West Florida. As early as 1823 the newly established Florida legislature began to plan a system of institutions of higher learning in the sparsely populated U.S. territory. The 1838 Constitution provided language guaranteeing the establishment and appropriation of land for seminaries in Florida.
1864 - The Federal transport steamer, Maple Leaf, struck a Confederate torpedo, now referred to as a mine, on the St. Johns River near Mandarin and sank immediately in three fathoms of water on this date. A detachment of Confederate artillery and a company of infantry troops were dispatched to the area to ensure that the wreckage was complete. The 181-ft long Maple Leaf was launched in 1851 in Ontario and was originally used as a freight and passenger vessel. It was leased to the U.S. Army in 1862 an used along the east coast as a military transport.
1874 - Marcellus Lovejoy Stearns, who was only 34 years of age, assumed the office of Governor of Florida (acting) on this date, following the death of Governor Ossian B. Hart. Stearns became the 11th governor (1874-1877) of the state. He was born in Lovell, Maine, and came to Florida as a member of the Freedman’s Bureau after having lost an arm while on duty with the Union Army. Stationed in Quincy, Stearns remained in Gadsden County following his release from military service.
1832 - The St. Augustine City Council passed an ordinance today authorizing the creation of tax-supported free schools in the city. This was one of the earliest such ordinances in the American South and in the nation. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States, founded by Pedro Menedez de Aviles in 1565. It was the administrative center for East Florida during the British Period (1763-1783) and the Second Spanish Period (1783-1821).
1998- Judy Buenoano was executed by electrocution on this date. She was the first woman to be executed in Florida in 150 years and the first to die in the electric chair. The last woman to be executed before her was a freed slave who murdered a former master in 1848.
1863 - Federal army and naval forces continued evacuating Jacksonville on this date. As they evacuated, Union soldiers set fire to much of the town. Jacksonville was the center of Confederate military operations in Florida and the fires caused national outrage and debate over who was to blame. Rain helped to contain the fire, but the damage was already done as most of the city lay in ruins.
1833 - The Treaty of Payne’s Prairie was confirmed on this date with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Gibson. Seminoles agreed to the removal of the Seminole people from Florida in the Treaty of Fort Gibson, Arkansas, after their investigation of the new western lands. Removal would take place within three years.