In the Sunshine State on this day in:


1802 John Gorrie, the acknowledged inventor of air conditioning, was born today.  Gorrie, a physician, was born in Charleston, SC.  The idea for artificially cooling air in limited spaces was recognized by the U.S. Patent office when it granted him Patent Number 8080 on May 6, 1851. A statue of John Gorrie was placed in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, DC, in 1914.  Gorrie is one of two Floridians thus honored.


1853 Thomas Brown, the second governor of Florida, left  office today and was succeeded by James Emilius Broome. (Abraham Kurkindolle Allison had proclaimed himself the acting governor of Florida on September 16, 1853, because of the absence from the state of Governor Brown and the President of the Florida Senate, R. J. Floyd.  Under the Florida Constitution, which did not allow the governor to leave the state, such a proclamation was necessary.


1887 The State Normal School for Colored Students, now Florida A and M University, began classes today with fifteen students in attendance.


1904 The school for African-American students, destined to become Bethune-Cookman College, opened in Daytona Beach under the direction of Mary McLeod Bethune.


1905 Governor Fuller Warren, the 30th governor of Florida, was born today in Blountstown.  


1962 The Mercury 8 space vehicle was launched today from Cape Canaveral.