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The Everglades National Park was officially dedicated on this date. President Harry S. Truman attended the ceremony which was held at Everglades City. Efforts to preserve the fragile and unique ecosystem began in the early 20th century after decades of drainage efforts and development. Eventually the Florida State Legislature established a commission to study the feasibility of establishing a national park and raising money to fund the endeavor culminating in the 1947 designation.
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Luther Paul Daniel became the first FHP officer killed in the line of duty on this date. Daniel, who was originally from Georgia moved to Miami in 1926, and later worked as a motorcycle officer in Key West in the 1930’s,. He joined the newly formed Florida Highway Patrol in July of 1941. Trooper Daniel was shot and killed while questioning the driver of a stolen vehicle in Miami. The suspect was apprehended two days later.
Gilchrist County, Florida’s 67th, youngest and smallest county was created on this date. The county was named after Florida’s 20th Governor, Albert W. Gilchrist who served from 1909 – 1913. It is considered a rural county with less than 17,000 residents. The county seat is Trenton. Other large towns include Bell and Fanning Springs, which it shares with Levy County.
Delegates from around the state met at St. Joseph to draft a Constitution and bill of rights for the Territory of Florida on this date. Robert R. Reid, future governor of the territory presided over the convention. Delegates were broken into 18 committees to determine specific areas of the government. The only major issue of contention was on banking legislation, but the convention adjourned on January 11th. No original copy of the document exists today, but a secretary’s copy is held by the State Archives of Florida.
Robert Raymond Reid began work as the fourth territorial governor of Florida on this date. Reid was born in Prince William Parrish, Beaufort District, South Carolina on October 8, 1789. He first became a public servant at the age of 27 when he served as a judge and also served multiple terms in the U.S. Congress as a representative from Georgia. Reid was appointed Governor of Florida by President Martin Van Buren and while in office he presided over the convention which drafted Florida’s first territorial constitution.
A group of supply boats led by Lt. R.W. Scott heading up the Apalachicola River bound for Fort Scott were attacked by Seminole warriors resulting in the deaths of 33 men, 6 women and 4 children on this date. The attack was in retaliation for the U.S. attack on a Seminole village in southern Georgia known as Fowltown a week earlier. Outraged, the U.S. government ordered General Andrew Jackson to begin attacking Seminole villages, some of which were in Spanish-held Florida, resulting in what was later known as the First Seminole War.
Just six days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the entire Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy. Both Kennedy and Johnson were supporters of manned space flight, specifically flights to the surface of the moon. Although the name change was adopted by the U.S. Board of Geological Surveys and the U.S. Department of the Interior, it was not popular in Florida as Cape Canaveral had been the name since the 16th century.
The City of Hollywood was incorporated on this date. Located in southern Broward County, Hollywood was designed by land developer Joseph Young, who first traveled to south Florida looking for a location to build his dream city. Development along the coast expanded tremendously until 1926 when a hurricane destroyed many of the buildings in the city. It was not until after WWII that the population again began to swell and grew steadily, now making Hollywood the second largest city in Broward County. Hollywood is also home to one of six Seminole Indian reservations.
James Tillinghast Archer, a native of South Carolina, became the Comptroller of the State of Florida on this date. He was the first Secretary of State serving from 1845 – 1848 and also Florida’s Attorney General in 1848. The town of Archer in Alachua County is named after him. He died in 1859 in Tallahassee and is buried in the Old City Cemetery.
