THIS DAY IN THE HISTORY OF THE SUNSHINE STATE (Post appears one day before actual date) JULY 26 1764 Elias Durnford was appointed civil engineer of West Florida. He contributed to the town plan and early street layout of Pensacola. See jacksonville/opinion/blog/400579/rocker419/2012-07-26/today-florida-history-july-26th 1845 Joseph Branch assumed office as the first Attorney General of Florida. 1852 Benjamin W. Roberts, African-American politician during Reconstruction, was born in Monticello. Roberts served as Monroe County Commissioner [1875-76] and Key West Councilman [1875-76; 1877-78]. See findagrave/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=35097999 1861 Thomas E. Jordan was appointed postmaster of Pensacola by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who also appointed Chandler C. Yonge as the Confederate attorney for the Florida district. 1862 A Union reconnaissance of the Indian River region found no activity in the area. 1864 Confederate Major General Patton Anderson was transferred from his post as Commander of the Confederate District of Florida to duty with Major General John Bell Hood in Atlanta. General John K. Jackson assumed Anderson’s command. 1876 Town of Daytona Beach was incorporated. 1896 City of Miami was incorporated. 1898 General Nelson Miles lands his invasion force at Guanica, Puerto Rico. American and Spanish soldiers skirmish at Yauco, Puerto Rico. 1916 Cecil Farris Bryant, the 34th governor of Florida [January 3, 1961-January 5, 1965] was born this date in Marion County. Bryant was elected to the Legislature [1946] for five consecutive terms and served as the Speaker of the House during the 1953 term. Governor Bryant focused his attention on improving education, particularly higher education, in the state. During his administration, work started on the construction of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal. On March 23, 1966, Bryant was appointed to be the Chairman of the Office of Emergency Planning and a member of the National Security Council by President Lyndon Johnson. His service ended on these groups in 1967. President Johnson also appointed Bryant to serve as a member of the United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, a body that he chaired from October 1967 until his resignation in 1969. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Farris_Bryant 1917 Jacksonville resident Raffaele Mercogliano, also known as Ralph Matre, became the first Floridian selected in the draft for service in World War I. Mercogliana/Matre had been a resident of the United States for only five years. “Mercogliano, Raffaele Born: 25 May 1891 Cimitile Italy Race: White Residence: Jacksonville FL Draft Number: 1” For other draft information for 1917, see files.usgwarchives.net/fl/duval/military/1917mead.txt 1984 The first spadeful of dirt was turned to launch the $1,400,000 program to return the Kissimmee River to its natural course along a twelve-mile stretch. 2013 A mass shooting occurred at an apartment complex in Hialeah. Pedro Alberto Vargas, a native of Cuba, killed six of his neighbors before being killed by a SWAT team. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Hialeah_shooting
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:01:06 +0000
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