In the Sunshine State on this day in:

1752 Most of the Spanish settlement on Santa Rosa Island nearly destroyed by a hurricane.

1883  The Bank of Tampa opened.

1957 Floridians, along with the rest of the free world, were shocked and amazed when the Russians successfully launched SPUTNIK II into orbit.  This satellite, which carried a dog named “Laika,” was the first man made space vehicle to carry a living organism into space.  The ramifications of this launch included an expanded United States space program and a considerable increase in jobs and money for Brevard County, the site of the Cape Canaveral Space Center.  The increased activity produced a significant increase in the population of Florida’s East Coast.