1908 – Citizens of Pensacola were still dealing with a large riot that was taking place in their city between electric streetcar employee union workers and strike breakers from New York on this date. The strike began on April 6th shortly after workers at the Pensacola Electric Company unionized and negotiations over wages and other issues between the two sides were at an impasse.

1969 – The Niceville campus of the Okaloosa-Walton Junior College was dedicated on this date. The college began holding classes temporarily in Valparaiso on April 3, 1964 before moving to its permanent location in Niceville in late 1968. The school voted to change its name to Okaloosa-Walton Community College in 1988, and in 2008 the college started offering four-year degrees, changing the name again to the Northwest Florida State College. Currently the college serves almost 15,000 undergraduates at seven campuses including the original campus in Niceville.

1876 – Park Monroe Trammell, the 21st governor of Florida (1913-1917), was born in Macon County, Alabama, on this date. Trammell attended school in Polk County as a youth. As a young man, he worked in a newspaper office in Polk County. During the Spanish-American War, he served in the Quartermaster’s Corps in Tampa. Trammell studied law at Vanderbilt University and Cumberland University, from which he graduated in 1899. After returning to his in Polk County home, he practiced law, owned and operated citrus groves, and operated a newspaper.

1882 – The Rogers House Inn, located on the southeast corner of Morse and Interlachen in Winter Park, opened its doors on this date, effectively marking the beginning of the small resort community. Wealthy northern developers Oliver E. Chapman and Loring Chase chose the site for the Inn because of its proximity to a group of idyllic lakes and the newly constructed South Florida Railroad depot.

1922 – Sigurd Olson “Sig” Haugdahl broke the land speed record at Daytona Beach on this date. Sig reached a speed of 180 miles per hour in a car he built named the “Wisconsin Special.” The car had an 836 cubic inch, 6 cylinder airplane engine capable of producing 250 horsepower. Although Sig’s world record breaking run was widely publicized and was recorded, the American Automobile Association did not recognize the new record because they did not have any officials from their organization present at the time of the run, and Sig was not a member at the time.

1927 – Webber College was established in Babson Park near Lakeland on this date. Now called Webber International University, the school is a private institution focused on business education. The school’s founder Roger Babson was an entrepreneur, investor and prominent business theorist who founded a number of business colleges around the country in the early 20th century. Webber was one of the first business schools founded in the U.S. exclusively for women. It is now coeducational.

1993 – The newly formed Florida Marlins professional baseball team played their first ever regular season game on this date. The Marlins faced the Los Angeles Dodgers and won the game 6-3, with Charlie Hough as their starting pitcher. Although a rough first few seasons, the Marlins would go on to win the National League Pennant and the World Series twice (in 1997 against the Cleveland Indians and in 2003 against the New York Yankees) both seasons as wildcard teams.

1913 - Singer, actress and entertainer Julia Francis Langford, known simply as Frances Langford, was born in Lakeland in Polk County on this date. Langford was best known for her vocal ability on radio and her later appearances in movies such as Yankee Doodle dandy with actor James Cagney in 1942. Langford also toured extensively with comedian Bob Hope on U.S.O. tours around the world during WWII. Although Langford had a career in Hollywood, she spent much of her life in Jenson Beach Florida, donating thousands to many local organizations in the Martin County area.

1929 – Edna Giles Fuller, the first female member of the Florida Legislature gave her first formal speech to her fellow members of the State Legislator on this date. She was born in Lake City in 1874 but soon moved to Orlando to live with her uncle. She briefly attended Rollins College before attending Centenary in Cleveland, Ohio.  Fuller, who represented Orange County, championed women’s suffrage and the right for women to serve on juries.  She also encouraged women’s involvement in the war effort during the Second World War.

1836 - The United States Congress was petitioned today for land grants to fund the creation of seminaries in East and West Florida. As early as 1823 the newly established Florida legislature began to plan a system of institutions of higher learning in the sparsely populated U.S. territory. The 1838 Constitution provided language guaranteeing the establishment and appropriation of land for seminaries in Florida.