In October 1906 the Florida Keys was struck by a major Hurricane. Though not as famous as the Great Miami Hurricane (1926), Okeechobee Hurricane (1928) or Fort Lauderdale Hurricane (1947) or as intense as the Labor Day storm (1935) this Hurricane made its unfortunate impact on the state. The storm which first barreled into the […]

Ever hear of St Joseph Florida? Likely not. Long before Miami in the roaring 1920’s and Key West in the 1890’s or even Arcadia as a frontier town in the 1900’s, what is currently Gulf County produced the first real boom-town with Florida as a part of the United States. As a US territory, Florida […]

St Augustine was under British rule for a grand total of 20 years in its 460 year history. But the British left an indelible mark on the city that remains today. The Seven Years War/French and Indian War ended formally on this day in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. With this treaty Florida changed […]

Florida did not become part of the United States until 1819. However, the opportunity had arisen for Florida to be part of the original rebellion against British rule. Florida had been under British rule since 1763, having been a long-standing target for conquest. The British tried in 1702, 1707, 1739 and 1742 to conquer Florida […]

In July 1742, decisive battles between the Spanish and British took place in and around St Simons Island, Georgia. It was the culmination of a conflict which began when the British invaded Florida, partly because of the number of runaway slaves that had come to the Spanish colonies. In the late 1600’s Spain began offering […]

Republican US Senator Ed Gurney elected in a 1968 upset over Leroy Collins was the first GOP US Senator elected from Florida since Reconstruction a hundred years earlier. This is one Gurney proved to be a disgrace to the state and one of many single-term statewide elected GOP officeholders of the period between 1966 and […]

The Civil Rights Act of 1960, Lyndon Johnson’s late attempt to try and win over northern liberals in his Presidential quest has been long forgotten. LBJ has shepherded through the Civil Rights Act of 1957 the first major piece of anti-discrimination legislation passed since 1875 – but one that had been severely gutted in its […]

It’s often overlooked that 75 years ago this month, war raged right off the coast of Florida. For many across the US “the home front” in World War II  represented industrial work and rallying behind the deployment of the military abroad. Here in Florida it represented a whole lot more.  Not only did we have […]

In 1968, Alabama’s Democratic former Governor George Wallace who had become a national figure with his “stand in the schoolhouse door” ran for President on the ticket of the “American Independent Party.” The candidacy despite coded words like “crime,” “law breakers,” and “patriotism” was about one thing- race. Wallace had been a populist earlier in […]