Florida Frontiers

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1887 - The Town of Eatonville was established as the FIRST Incorporated African-American municipality in the United States on this date. Located just three miles from downtown Orlando, Eatonville was named after Josiah Eaton, a white landowner who along with Lewis Lawrence donated the property that would become Eatonville.

1559 – The first Spanish settlement in the present United States was established by Don Tristan de Luna Arellano on this date. De Luna’s party consisted of Dominican friars, soldiers, and settlers who built their settlement on the site of today’s Pensacola. On September 9th a large hurricane swept through the area and destroyed many of De Luna’s ships and their cargo, leaving the settlers with very few supplies. The settlement was abandoned after two years. Europeans would not populate the area again until 1698.

1841 - Richard K. Call was commissioned as Governor of the Territory of Florida for a second term on this date. The Commission was signed by President John Tyler and Secretary of State Daniel Webster.

 

The State Archives of Florida recently digitized a large collection of Call’s correspondence records which are housed at the Florida Historical Society Library of Florida History. Check them out here:

 

http://floridamemory.com/collections/rkcall/

2005 - Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet voted to acquire more than 1,390 acres in Jefferson and Leon Counties, completing the Letchworth Mounds Florida Forever project and protecting close to 2,000 years of history on this date. A prominent archaeological site, Letchworth Mounds represents centuries of Native American heritage.

 

1896 - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Florida’s Pulitzer Prize winning author, was born on this date in Washington, D.C. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for her best-selling novel, The Yearling. Rawlings lived in Cross Creek, FL, where she wrote six novels, a volume of short stories, and a collection of essays. In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service added the 24th collectible postage stamp to its Literary Arts series of commemorative stamps with their release of the 41-cent First-Class Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings stamp.

1956 – Elvis Presley performed three shows at the Florida Theater in St. Petersburg at 3:30pm, 7:00pm and 9:00pm on this date with approximately 6,500 people in attendance. In early August, Presley’s hit singles, “Hound dog,” and “Don’t be Cruel,” exploded onto the Billboard charts, and his Florida tour coincided with this latest round of “Presley-mania.” From August 3rd - August 11th, Presley performed 25 shows total in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Jacksonville.