In the Sunshine State on this day in:

1849 William Dunn Moseley, the first governor elected under Florida’s statehood, left office today, and Thomas Brown, the second governor of Florida (October 1, 1849-October 3, 1853), assumed office.  Brown was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on October 24, 1785.  He served in the War of 1812.  He became the chief clerk of the post office at Richmond, and, while chief clerk, is credited with inventing the postal box. 

1867 The first post-Civil War voter registration results were filed in Tallahassee.  Some 15, 441 African-Americans registered to vote compared to 11,151 whites.

1895 The City of Cocoa, originally settled as Indian River, was incorporated today.

1910 Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, 19th governor of Florida (January 3, 1905-January 5, 1909), died today in Jacksonville at age 53.  Broward, an orphan at age 12, worked as a logger, a farm hand, and a steamboat roustabout during his early years.  In later life, he owned a steam tug, The Three Friends, which he commanded on eight voyages through the Spanish blockade of Cuba. Broward was carrying a cargo of war material. Elected sheriff of Duval County twice, Broward also served as a member of the Jacksonville City Council, a member of the 1901 Florida House of Representatives, and the State Board  of Health. The Broward administration reorganized the state’s institutions of higher learning under a Board of Control.  In addition, the administration encouraged efforts to drain the Everglades.            An unsuccessful candidate for United States Senator in 1908, Broward won the Democratic nomination (and the general election) in 1910, but died before he could assume office.

1949 Long Range Proving Ground (missile testing) was activated at Cape Canaveral.

1965 Floyd T. Christian assumed the office of Superintendent of Public Education.  Christian was the last person to hold this office, because the Constitutional Revision of 1968 changed the title to the Commissioner of Education.

1966 On this date, former Governor LeRoy Collins resigned his office as the United States Under Secretary of Commerce.

1975 The division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business Regulation assumed regulatory authority for the condominium industry in the state.  Russell McCaughan is credited with creating the first condominium in Florida in Boca Raton.  The first legal documents concerning the ownership and operation of this development were filed on November 2, 1962.

1979 Former Governor Reubin O’D. Askew was sworn in as the United States Trade Representative with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, serving as a member of President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet.