Florida Frontiers

1876 – The Gainesville Sun was first published on this date. Originally known as the Gainesville Times, it was bought and sold a number of times over the next few decades, known at times as The Gainesville Sun and Bee and the Gainesville Daily Sun. The paper is still active today and publishes a daily print version as well as operating a website which covers the news around the north-central part of the state.

1894 – Elwyn Thomas, longtime Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, was born in Eldred, a small community in St. Lucie County on this date. Thomas attended Stetson University College of Law, graduating in 1915, and became the prosecuting attorney for St. Lucie County in 1917.By 1925 he became the Circuit Court Judge for St. Lucie County. In 1938 he was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, serving as Chief Justice from 1947-1949 and again from 1959 – 1961. He retired in 1969 after 31 years on the bench.

1776 – Thirteen British colonies located on the Atlantic coast of North America signed a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Britain on this date. Florida was acquired by the British from the Spanish in 1763 as a result of the French and Indian War, and was subsequently divided into two colonies, East and West Florida, with the Apalachicola River as the dividing line. Throughout the American Revolutionary War, the Florida colonies remained loyal to the British and the population of St.

1823 – Monroe County, Florida’s sixth county was created on this date. It was named after the fifth president of the United States James Monroe. It was during his administration that the U.S. acquired Florida through the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819. The county covers the chain of islands known as the Florida Keys, as well as a large portion of Florida’s southwestern most mainland area of the Everglades. The majority of the population lives in the Keys. The location of Key West in the middle of the Florida Straits helped the city develop into a major commercial hub in the 19th century.

1961 – Author, journalist and longtime Florida resident Ernest Hemingway died at his home in Idaho on this date. He is best known for his short stories and novels including, “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” “To Have and Have Not,” as well as many others, some of which were written during his time in Florida. Hemingway lived in Key West during the 1930s in an old home originally constructed in the mid-19th century. He enjoyed the ample fishing opportunities around Key West and the Caribbean and frequently traveled to the Bahamas by boat.

1899 – The Battles of San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill took place near Santiago on the island of Cuba on this date. The engagements, along with victories in the Philippines would become the decisive battles of the Spanish American War which would eventually cede Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam to the United States. Over 300,000 U.S. regular and volunteer forces were mustered into service during the short war, many of whom trained in or passed through Florida.

1936 – Actress and singer Nancy Dussault was born in Pensacola on this date. Dussault was a regular on the 1970s T.V. series, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and also stared in the Broadway production of the Sound of Music. She was the first anchor of Good Morning America in 1975 alongside David Hartman and has been involved in a number of television, movie and theater productions throughout her lifetime.

1931 – Well there is no denying that summer is here in Florida! The highest recorded temperature in Florida was recorded at Monticello in Jefferson County on this date. The humid subtropical climate of the small town reached a peak of 109 °F / 43 °C. Warm weather is generally accepted by most Floridians as par for the course, but extremely cold temperatures are much less frequent. On February 18, 1899, not far from Monticello in Tallahassee, a record low of -2° F / -19 °C was reached.

1914 – Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, setting off events that would culminate into the First World War, the bloodiest conflict in human history up to that point. Although the United State would not enter the Great War until April of 1917, training bases were opened around Florida as Europe descended into a protracted conflict. Eventually, over 40,000 Floridians served in the military during the war, many in the trenches of Europe.

1911 – Joe Lang Kershaw, the first African American elected to the Florida Legislature since Reconstruction, was born in Live Oak on this date. He graduated from Florida A&M during the 1930s in history and social studies and later received a Master’s degree administration from the same institution. While at Florida A&M, Kershaw worked as a janitor inside the Florida Legislature, and after decades of working as a teacher in Dade County, he was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1968.