1991 - The town of Manatee set a world record for the greatest egg hunt ever staged on this date.  Forty thousand children hunted more than 120,000 plastic and candy eggs.  The record has had many challengers since, but the title is currently held by another Florida city- comment if you know the answer!  

1982 – The space shuttle Colombia (STS-3) lifted off from Cape Canaveral on its third flight, and only the third mission of the space shuttle program, on this date. Despite a one hour delay due to failure of a nitrogen gas ground support line heater, the mission was successfully completed and demonstrated a safe orbiter re-launch and return. The crew members onboard were pilot C. Gordon Fullerton and Commander Jack R. Lousma.  Their journey lasted eight days, landing in White Sands, New Mexico on March 30 and returning to Kennedy Space Center on April 6.

1949 - WTVJ-TV, Miami’s first television station, aired its first broadcast at noon on this date. It was the first television station in Florida and only the 16^th in the entire country. The station was originally owned by Wometco Enterprises and carried all four major networks of that era (NBC, CBS, ABC and Dumont). After 1964 the Jackie Gleason Show was produced at WTVJ. In 1984 Wometco sold the station to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) but by 1987 NBC purchased the station.

1565 – Pedro Menendez de Aviles received his “asiento” or settlement orders from the Spanish government to travel to La Florida on this date. Two years earlier, Don Juan Mendedez, Pedro Menendez’s only son was lost in a wreck near the Bahamas and Menendez was determined to find him. He was also instructed to reconnoiter the gulf and east coasts, making detailed observations about the ports, currents, hazards, etc., and settle the new territory. The Spanish government also tasked Menendez with driving the French settlers out of La Florida.

1928 – Miami Beach Police Officer David Cecil Bearden was fatally shot by suspected car thieves on this date, making him the first Miami Beach police officer killed in the line of duty. Bearden was a native of Alabama and moved to Miami Beach in the early 1920s and became a police officer in 1926. On March 18^th 1928, three men stole a car from Miami Beach and drove to Fort Lauderdale, then shortly after midnight broke into a Hupmobile dealership, stole a sedan and drove back to Miami Beach in the early morning hours of March 19^th.

1946 – Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play baseball in the Major Leagues, played his first Minor League exhibition game with the Montreal Royals against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Daytona Beach on this date. The following season, Robinson was called up to the Major Leagues and played for the Dodgers and won the MLB Rookie of the Year Award. He was the first African American to break the color barrier in Major League baseball since the 1880s. Robinson played in six World Series, including the Dodgers’ 1955 win against the New York Yankees, and was a six time All Star.

1910 - Barney Oldfield established a new land speed record of 131.7 miles-per-hour at Daytona Beach on this date.  Oldfield was driving the “Blitzen Benz,” manufactured in Mannheim Germany in 1909 by the Benz & Cie which boasted an inline four cylinder engine producing 200hp. The Daytona/Ormond Beach area was ideal for these early land speed attempts and is often referred to as the “Birthplace of Speed.” 

1960- The Key Largo Coral Reef was established on this date, thus establishing the underwater area as officially part of the state park system, and the first underwater park in the United States. The park encompasses approximately 70 nautical square miles of underwater reefs and mangrove areas. A few years after the underwater park was established, land was donated and developed to include a camping area and visitor’s center on land adjacent to the reefs.     

1903 – The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Indian River Lagoon in East Central Florida became the first national refuge on this date. By the late 1800’s Florida’s wildlife populations, specifically bird populations were dwindling due to overhunting for plumes. Pelican Island, a small 3-acre mangrove island, hosted thousands of brown pelicans, spoonbills, and other waterfowl utilized the island as a rookery for their young.

1812 – Forces from the Patriot Army set up camp in East Florida on Rose’s Bluff near the St. Mary’s river. This ragtag Patriot army, comprised mostly of Georgians, set out to invade, occupy and overtake the Spanish forces at St. Augustine, thus claiming the territory for the United States. The Spanish had very weak control of its borders and the Patriots believed they could muster popular support amongst the East Florida population and start a revolution, but that reality never came to fruition.