Today In Florida ...

"The first rule of hurricane coverage is that every broadcast must begin with palm trees bending in the wind. "

Carl Hiaasen

• 1863: The U.S.S. Fort Henry captured 250 bushels of corn belonging to Confederate Senator David Levy Yulee today on a barge off the mouth of the Withlacoochee River.
• 1865: The Midway African Methodist Episcopal Church was established today.
• 1919: Vero, now Vero beach, was incorporated today by the Florida Legislature.
• 1921 The Town of River Junction (now Chattahoochee) was incorporated today by the Florida Legislature.
• 1936: The first land for Hillsborough River State Park, near Zephyrhills, was acquired today. The park, which opened in 1938, would become a favorite camping spot for the “Tin Can Tourists” who came to the Sunshine State.
• 1963: Governor Farris Bryant signed a bill today to create Florida Technological University (Now the University of Central Florida) in Orlando.