| January |
17 |
1961 |
Metro commission directs transit authority to buy three bus lines from Pawley for under $8 million. |
| February |
3 |
1961 |
Three blacks seek admission to UM. |
| March |
29 |
1961 |
A raid on a Miami Beach bookie operation in the Eden Roc hotel includes S&G; Syndicate founder Jules Levitt among those arrested. |
| April |
1 |
1961 |
Six black players with the Chicago White Sox, in town for an exhibition game, stay at the Biscayne Terrace Hotel in downtown Miami with the rest of the team: the first major Miami hotel to admit blacks. |
| April |
17 |
1961 |
Bay of Pigs invasion 17-19. |
| May |
1 |
1961 |
A National Airlines convair from Miami-Key West is hijacked to Cuba, first hijacking of a commercial plane TO Cuba. |
| May |
5 |
1961 |
First space flight by an American astronaut, Alan Shepherd. |
| May |
10 |
1961 |
Miami's Playboy Club International opens at 7701 Biscayne Boulevard. |
| June |
10 |
1961 |
First black students accepted at University of Miami. |
| June |
22 |
1961 |
Sunrise and Lauderdale Lakes incorporated. |
| July |
2 |
1961 |
Ernest Hemingway committs suicide in Idaho. |
| July |
4 |
1961 |
Dr. Von Mizell leads march from Sunland Park to Fort Lauderdale beach to protest segregation of beach facilities. |
| August |
9 |
1961 |
First jetliner hijacked to Cuba, a Pan Am 707 from Mexico to Panama: future Herald staffer John Wolin and his family are aboard. |
| September |
5 |
1961 |
Broward schools are desegregated with 15 elementary, 6 junior high, and 1 high school student entering schools. |
| December |
2 |
1961 |
Fidel Castro announces he is a Communist. |
| December |
29 |
1961 |
President Kennedy speaks to Bay of Pigs veterans at the Orange Bowl and promises their flag will return to Cuba. |
| February |
18 |
1962 |
Dynamite explodes outside home of Herald editor Don Shoemaker, damaging the house and two others. |
| February |
20 |
1962 |
Greater Miami population reaches 1 million. |
| February |
20 |
1962 |
John Glenn orbits earth. |
| March |
10 |
1962 |
New York Yankees play first spring training game at Fort Lauderdale stadium, beat Orioles 4-1. |
| July |
10 |
1962 |
First transoceanic television program - satellite launched, Cape Canaveral. |
| October |
1 |
1962 |
Dadeland Mall opens as an outdoor strip center with 58 tenants, including a Burdines department store. |
| October |
14 |
1962 |
A U.S. U-2 spy jet enters Cuban air space to photograph Soviet missile bases. |
| October |
16 |
1962 |
Cuban Missile Crisis 16-28. |
| October |
22 |
1962 |
President John F. Kennedy announces in a nationwide TV broadcast that Soviet missiles are present in Cuba. |
| December |
24 |
1962 |
Over 1000 Bay of Pigs prisoners are freed and returned to Miami. |
| February |
12 |
1963 |
A Northwest Orient 720B crashes in the Everglades, killing 43 people. |
| March |
23 |
1963 |
The Herald moves into its new building on Biscayne Bay over the 23d and 24th. |
| April |
24 |
1963 |
PGA moves its national headquarters to Palm Beach Gardens. |
| May |
17 |
1963 |
A bus loaded with farm workers is forced off road into the Hillsboro Canal near Belle Glade, killing at least 27 people including 12 children. |
| July |
10 |
1963 |
Coral Springs, Parkland and North Lauderdale incorporated. |
| August |
1 |
1963 |
Two gas station attendents are killed in Port St. Joe. Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee would be convicted and sentenced to death. Gene Miller would win Pulitzer for stories proving their innocence. |
| August |
15 |
1963 |
Tamarac incorporated. |
| October |
17 |
1963 |
A daily Broward "Peach" Edition is launched, first daily coverage of Broward County. |
| November |
18 |
1963 |
JFK visits Miami for the last time and speaks at Inter-American Press Assn. Dinner in Bal Harbour. |
| November |
22 |
1963 |
JFK assassinated. |
| November |
25 |
1963 |
Bernie Kosar born. |
| February |
13 |
1964 |
Beatles arrive in Miami. |
| February |
16 |
1964 |
Beatles' second appearance on Ed Sullivan show from the Deauville Hotel. |
| February |
25 |
1964 |
Muhammad Ali defeats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. |
| March |
31 |
1964 |
First Coconut Grove Festival (now Art Festival) opens, running through April 5. |
| July |
2 |
1964 |
Jose Canseco born. |
| August |
28 |
1964 |
"I have a dream" speech, Martin Luther King, in Washington D.C. |
| August |
28 |
1964 |
Hurricane Cleo hits South Florida. |
| September |
19 |
1964 |
"Flipper" TV show debuts, produced at Ivan Tors' studio in Miami. |
| December |
13 |
1964 |
Ben Cohen, Miami Beach attorney who represented the S&G; Syndicate during Kefauver hearings, is convicted of income tax evasion. |
| February |
13 |
1965 |
A C46 cargo plane operated by Aerolineas El Salvador crashes into a Hialeah auto junkyard, kiliing the two crew members. |
| May |
6 |
1965 |
Herald Latin American editor Al Burt and photographer Doug Kennedy are shot by Marines in Dominican Republic as they cover the revolution there. |
| August |
16 |
1965 |
An NFL franchise is awarded to Joe Robbie and Danny Thomas. |
| September |
8 |
1965 |
Hurricane Betsy hits South Florida; Collins Ave. and Biscayne Boulevard flooded; a barge severs Rickenbacker Causeway. 13 die. |
| September |
28 |
1965 |
Castro opens doors for freedom flights. |
| October |
8 |
1965 |
Joe Robbie announces his new football team will be called the Dolphins. |
| October |
10 |
1965 |
Castro opens port of Camarioca, 5000 flee to Miami 10-Nov. 15. |
| October |
25 |
1965 |
Disney corp. announces it will build Walt Disney World in central Florida. |
| November |
14 |
1965 |
Cruise ship SS Yarmouth Castle burns en route to Nassau with 550 aboard; 90 die. |
| December |
1 |
1965 |
Freedom Flights begin from Cuba. |
| December |
12 |
1965 |
Haitian refugees land in Pompano Beach and are given asylum. (First Haitian refugees?) |
| February |
4 |
1966 |
Athalie Range takes office as first black Miami City Commissioner. |
| March |
5 |
1966 |
Candace Mossler and Melvin Lane Powers are acquitted in the murder of her millionaire husband, Jacques Mossler, in their Key Biscayne apartment. |
| April |
11 |
1966 |
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. visits Miami; he speaks at a rally attended by 1,200 people. |
| July |
30 |
1966 |
Miami Herald and Miami News begin joint operation after News leaves its Miami River building for 1 Herald Plaza, and ends its Sunday publication. |
| September |
2 |
1966 |
Miami Dolphins play their first game, losing to Oakland, 23-14 in front of 26,776 fans in the Orange Bowl. |
| September |
8 |
1966 |
John McMullan named executive editor of The Herald. He had started as city editor under executive city editor Al Neuharth in 1957. |
| October |
16 |
1966 |
Dolphins win their first game, over Denver. |
| December |
19 |
1966 |
MS Sunward I leaves Miami on a cruise to Nassau, launching Miami's cruise industry. Ted Arison is owner. |
| December |
27 |
1966 |
Groundbreaking for Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale. |
| February |
19 |
1967 |
Coconut Creek incorporated. |
| March |
6 |
1967 |
Singer Nelson Eddy dies in Miami. |
| April |
11 |
1967 |
Lee Hills is elected president of Knight Newspapers. |
| May |
31 |
1967 |
The Herald dedicates a new Broward bureau building on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It will contain news and business offices. |
| August |
9 |
1967 |
Deion Sanders born in Ft. Myers. |
| August |
16 |
1967 |
Knight Newspapers (KNI) goes public on NY Stock Exchange. |
| August |
30 |
1967 |
Miami mayor Robert King High dies. |
| October |
15 |
1967 |
First Tropic Magazine, Sunday rotogravure in Miami Herald. |
| October |
31 |
1967 |
Vanilla Ice born in Miami. |
| October |
31 |
1967 |
Tommy "The Enforcer" Altamura is gunned down at Place for Steak on 79th St. Causeway. |
| January |
14 |
1968 |
First Super Bowl played in the Orange Bowl. (Green Bay defeats Raiders). |
| February |
4 |
1968 |
Disturbance follows incident in which two white Miami officers arrest a black youth with a knife, strip him and dangle him from a bridge. |
| March |
18 |
1968 |
North-South Expressway (I-95) opens between NW 2nd St. and SW 8th St., including new bridge across Miami River and completing route from downtown to U.S. 1. |
| April |
4 |
1968 |
Martin Luther King assassinated. |
| May |
6 |
1968 |
Herald publisher and Knight Newspapers' editorial chairman John S. Knight is awarded Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Editorial Writing for his "Notebook" column. |
| May |
8 |
1968 |
Diocese of Miami elevated to an Archdiocese. |
| June |
22 |
1968 |
Hugo Vihlen, of Homestead, comes within 25 miles of the Florida coast off Vero Beach, after crossing the Atlantic in the April Fool, a 6 ft.-long boat. |
| August |
5 |
1968 |
Republican National Convention is held in Miami Beach thru 8th. |
| August |
7 |
1968 |
Racial violence in Liberty City lasting until the 9th, as Republican National Convention meets in Miami Beach. 3 killed. |
| September |
16 |
1968 |
Dr. Orlando Bosch fires a bazooka at a Polish freighter at Dodge Island. |
| November |
15 |
1968 |
Bosch and 8 other exiles found guilty of bazooka attack on ship. |
| November |
16 |
1968 |
Miami police chief Walter Headley dies. |
| December |
15 |
1968 |
The Herald runs what may be the country's first Computer-assisted Reporting project, A Scientific Look at Dade Crime, by staff writer Clarence Jones, running through the 22nd. |
| December |
17 |
1968 |
Heiress Barbara Mackle is kidnapped in Georgia. She would be buried in a box for 83 hours. |
| December |
20 |
1968 |
Last section of north-south expressway (I-95) opens from NW 2nd St to NW 23d St, completing route through Dade County. |
| December |
29 |
1968 |
Port of Miami's passenger terminal is dedicated. |
| January |
7 |
1969 |
Miami News editor Bill Baggs dies at 48. |
| January |
24 |
1969 |
Feeder ramps from downtown Miami to I-95 open. |
| March |
1 |
1969 |
Jim Morrison of the Doors exposes himself at a concert at Dinner Key Auditorium. |
| March |
1 |
1969 |
Jack "Murph the Surf" Murphy is sentenced to 45 years in Broward Court for the 1967 "Whiskey Creek" murders. |
| March |
6 |
1969 |
Black Panther Anthony Bryant hijacks a National Airlines plane to Cuba. |
| June |
23 |
1969 |
A Dominicana Airlines DC4 crashes into NW 36th St. trying to return to MIA; 10 killed. |
| July |
20 |
1969 |
Moon landing. |
| August |
16 |
1969 |
Woodstock music festival 16-18. |
| December |
23 |
1969 |
Alvah Chapman is named president of Miami Herald Publishing Company. |
| January |
3 |
1970 |
Edwarda O'Bara slips into a diabetic coma at age 16; her mother Kay would care for her for decades. Herald columnist Charles Whited would keep the O'Baras in the public eye until his death. |
| January |
22 |
1970 |
In a hearing on segregation in Dade schools, federal judge Atkins orders all schools be integrated by Sept 1970. |
| April |
14 |
1970 |
Two crewmen die when an Ecuadorean DC4 cargo plane crashes on takeoff at MIA. |
| April |
22 |
1970 |
Miami celebrates the first national "Earth Day" with a teach-in at UM and a "Dead Orange Parade" on Biscayne Boulevard. |
| May |
4 |
1970 |
Opa-Locka runaway Mary Vecchio is photographed at Kent State University in Ohio over body one of students shot by National Guard: 4 killed, 9 injured. |
| June |
15 |
1970 |
"Rotten meat" riots in Miami 15-19. |
| June |
16 |
1970 |
Brian Piccolo, former St. Thomas Aquinas and Chicago Bears football star, dies at 26. |
| October |
28 |
1970 |
The Herald apologizes for inserting a line from a movie review into the TV listing for a speech by Richard Nixon at Miami Convention Hall: "Ghostly and menacing presence". |
| January |
1 |
1971 |
Waste Management, Inc. is formed and goes public after Wayne Huizenga merges his Broward-based trash company with a Chicago company run by his cousin. |
| January |
5 |
1971 |
Reubin Askew, of Miami, is inaugurated governor. |
| January |
19 |
1971 |
President Nixon orders end of construction of Cross Florida Barge Canal. |
| February |
28 |
1971 |
Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship on the PGA East course in Palm Beach Gardens. |
| March |
31 |
1971 |
Lt. William Calley, Miami native, is convicted of My Lai massacre in Vietnam. |
| April |
21 |
1971 |
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier dies; his son "Baby Doc" becomes new president of Haiti |
| October |
1 |
1971 |
Walt Disney World opens. |
| December |
25 |
1971 |
The Dolphins defeat the Chiefs 27-24 in the NFL's longest game. |
| January |
6 |
1972 |
Miami's first Three Kings Day parade is held in Little Havana.. |
| April |
4 |
1972 |
Adam Clayton Powell dies in Miami. |
| June |
17 |
1972 |
Four Miamians are among the five burglars arrested in the break-in at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. |
| July |
6 |
1972 |
Manolo Reboso appointed to Miami City Commission, first Cuban exile in that position. |
| July |
10 |
1972 |
Democratic National Convention opens on Miami Beach. |
| August |
21 |
1972 |
Republican National Convention is held in Miami Beach. |
| August |
24 |
1972 |
Larry Jinks, managing editor, promoted to executive editor of The Herald. Senior managing editor George Beebe becomes associate publisher. |
| September |
19 |
1972 |
First day of classes at the new Florida International University, built on old Tamiami Airport site. |
| October |
20 |
1972 |
Renovated Olympia theater reopens as Gusman Philharmonic Hall. |
| November |
7 |
1972 |
Voters approve Dade County's "Decade of Progress" bond issue, for $553 million. |
| November |
7 |
1972 |
Meyer Lansky is arrested in Miami on charges of racketeering and tax evasion. |
| December |
21 |
1972 |
Chris Evert turns pro on her 18th birthday. |
| December |
29 |
1972 |
Eastern jet flight 401 crashes in Everglades, 101 people killed. |
| January |
14 |
1973 |
Dolphins defeat Washington in Super Bowl in L.A., completing perfect season. |
| January |
27 |
1973 |
Vietnam war cease fire ending U.S. combat role. |
| February |
2 |
1973 |
Concord Cafeteria on Miami Beach is firebombed, 3 die. |
| February |
21 |
1973 |
Arch Creek natural bridge collapses. |
| March |
2 |
1973 |
First southern bald eagle born in captivity, Crandon Park Zoo. |
| April |
6 |
1973 |
Miami Mayor David Kennedy, two judges and three others are indicted on corruption and bribery charges. |
| April |
7 |
1973 |
Freedom Flights from Cuba end. |
| May |
5 |
1973 |
UM is first college in US to offer athletic scholarship to women. |
| June |
17 |
1973 |
A Smithsonian research submarine is trapped on the ocean floor off Key West; despite rescue attempts, two die, two survive. |
| June |
21 |
1973 |
A cargo plane crashes in Everglades, killing 4. |
| July |
10 |
1973 |
Bahamas Independence. |
| July |
23 |
1973 |
Eddie Rickenbacker dies in Switzerland. He headed Eastern Airlines 1938-1963. |
| August |
14 |
1973 |
Mayor Kennedy acquitted, others convicted on bribery charges in "Market Garden" case. |
| August |
20 |
1973 |
A 16-year-old Sarasota girl is killed by an alligator, first known occurrence. |
| September |
11 |
1973 |
Coup in Chile topples government; President Salvador Allende killed in Santiago. |
| September |
19 |
1973 |
Alvah Chapman is elected president of Knight Newspapers. |
| October |
25 |
1973 |
A DC6 charter plane runs out of fuel a minute away from MIA and lands in 3 feet of water off Dinner Key. Three crew members injured. |
| November |
6 |
1973 |
Maurice Ferre elected first Hispanic mayor of Miami. |
| November |
11 |
1973 |
International Fine Arts College student Dianne Dove becomes the first black princess named to the Orange Bowl queen's court in its 39-year history. |
| December |
15 |
1973 |
DC7 Cargo plane taking off from MIA crashes on NW 30th St, killing 8. |
| January |
13 |
1974 |
Dolphins win their second Super Bowl game, defeating Minnesota in Houston. |
| March |
4 |
1974 |
Amy Billig, 17, disappears from her Coconut Grove home. She is never found. |
| June |
25 |
1974 |
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, overturns Fla. Sup. Ct's ruling that newspapers must print a political candidate's reply to a paper's criticism. |
| August |
5 |
1974 |
DEA administration building on NE 12th St collapses, killing 7 employees. |
| August |
9 |
1974 |
Richard Nixon resigns. |
| October |
27 |
1974 |
Miami News publisher James Cox Jr. dies in Miami. |
| November |
30 |
1974 |
Knight Newspapers and Ridder Publications merge. New company is headquartered in Miami. |
| December |
11 |
1974 |
Flamboyant defense attorney Harvey St. Jean is killed in parking lot of Lincoln Rd. Burdines. |
| December |
20 |
1974 |
Arnold Zeleznik, 9, is killed at a Miami airport hotel by former mental patient Vernal Walford. |
| April |
30 |
1975 |
Saigon falls, ending the war in Vietnam. |
| September |
11 |
1975 |
Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee are pardoned by Gov. Reubin Askew. They are released 9/19. |
| October |
31 |
1975 |
Rolando Masferrer, Cuban exile leader called "El Tigre" is killed when his car explodes outside his home. |
| December |
13 |
1975 |
Last stretch of I-95 in Broward opens between Commercial and Atlantic Boulevards |
| March |
30 |
1976 |
The Herald publishes a new Spanish language supplement called El Herald. |
| April |
20 |
1976 |
Alvah Chapman elected chairman of Knight Ridder. Chairman Lee Hills named Chairman of Board and editorial chairman. |
| April |
30 |
1976 |
Broadcaster Emilio Milian loses his legs when car bomb explodes in the parking lot outside WQBA studios. |
| July |
28 |
1976 |
Johnny Roselli, 71, leaves Plantation home for the last time. 11 days later fishermen find his body stuffed in a drum in Dumfoundling Bay in North Dade. Roselli (Rosselli?) was involved in Chicago, LA and Las Vegas mobs, and in plot to kill Castro by CIA. |
| September |
17 |
1976 |
Serial killer Robert Carr is sentenced to three consecutive life terms for the rape, kidnap and murder of three Dade youngsters and four other rapes. |
| September |
21 |
1976 |
Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and an aide are assassinated by a bomb in Washington DC; two Cuban exiles would be convicted, among others. |
| October |
4 |
1976 |
John McMullan named executive editor of The Herald, replacing Larry Jinks (becomes editor in San Jose). It is second time for McMullan, who was editor in Philadelphia, then Knight Ridder VP. |
| January |
18 |
1977 |
Dade County commission passes a human rights ordinance which protects against discrimination based on sexuality. |
| January |
19 |
1977 |
Snow in Miami; Broward is also dusted, along with most of Florida. |
| January |
20 |
1977 |
Miami temperature falls to 31, lowest ever. Citrus, vegetables, avocado trees killed. |
| April |
5 |
1977 |
Former Cuban president Carlos Prio Socarras dies in Miami Beach. |
| June |
7 |
1977 |
Dade voters repeal the human rights ordinance following an anti-gay rights campaign headed by Anita Bryant. |
| July |
27 |
1977 |
Six men are killed and two others wounded in a Carol City home, Dade's worst mass murder to date, believed to be drug-related |
| August |
16 |
1977 |
Elvis Presley dies. |
| September |
1 |
1977 |
U.S. and Cuba open "Interest sections" in Havana and D.C. |
| September |
3 |
1977 |
A six-year-old boy falls into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and is killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile. Serpentarium owner Bill Haast kills the croc the next day. |
| October |
6 |
1977 |
Ronny Zamora, 15, of Miami, is convicted of murder despite the "TV intoxication" defense brought by his attorney Ellis Rubin. |
| January |
1 |
1978 |
Don Shoemaker retires as Herald editor but will continue as an editorial columnist. |
| March |
12 |
1978 |
The first Calle Ocho festival, Open House 8, is held in Little Havana. Over 100,000 people attend. |
| June |
17 |
1978 |
Herald editor John Pennekamp dies at 80. He spent 66 years at The Herald and retired Jan 1, 1977. |
| August |
1 |
1978 |
Edgerrin James is born in Immokalee. |
| November |
7 |
1978 |
Miami Lakes' Bob Graham becomes governor of Florida. |
| November |
19 |
1978 |
Jonestown Massacre. |
| January |
8 |
1979 |
UM hires Howard Schnellenberger as football coach. |
| January |
9 |
1979 |
An 11-yr-old black girl is picked up and molested by a white state trooper in Homestead. He would plead nolo in August and get probation; following federal indictment the next year, he flees. |
| February |
7 |
1979 |
Rep. Gwen Cherry of Miami is killed in a car crash at FSU; first black woman in Florida legislature, first elected 1970. |
| February |
12 |
1979 |
Metro police raid the home of a black teacher, Nathaniel Lafleur, and beat him and his son in a wrong-house raid. |
| May |
25 |
1979 |
John Spenkelink is executed, first execution in Florida since Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976. |
| July |
12 |
1979 |
Shootout by "Cocaine Cowboys" at Dadeland Mall; two shoppers killed, two liquor store employees injured. |
| July |
17 |
1979 |
Anastasio Somoza flees Nicaragua for Miami. |
| July |
31 |
1979 |
Ted Bundy is found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of FSU sorority women and attempted murder of three others. |
| September |
3 |
1979 |
Hurricane David skirts the coast of Southeast Florida. |
| December |
18 |
1979 |
Arthur McDuffie is beaten and killed by several police officers in Miami after they chased him on his motorcycle. |
| December |
27 |
1979 |
Jack Kofoed, a Herald columnist for 44 years, dies. His last column appeared May 31. |
| January |
7 |
1980 |
Pan Am buys National Airlines. |
| January |
13 |
1980 |
Air Florida jet crashes into the Potomac River on takeoff from Washington National Airport, killing 78. |
| January |
30 |
1980 |
The sand dredge Cinco de Diciembre is hijacked from Varadero, Cuba. After a 32-hour voyage that ends in Miami Beach, 66 Cubans are granted asylum. |
| February |
4 |
1980 |
Four members of the "Black Tuna" gang are convicted on charges of smuggling $300 million worth of marijuana. |
| February |
7 |
1980 |
Ted Bundy is convicted in Miami of the murder of Kimberly Leach and sentenced to death. |
| February |
23 |
1980 |
Dade schools superintendent Johnny Jones is indicted for using school funds to purchase gold plumbing fixtures for his Naples vacation home. |
| April |
4 |
1980 |
Cubans seek asylum in Peruvian embassy in Havana 4-6. Castro opens port of Mariel. |
| April |
21 |
1980 |
Mariel boatlift begins; first boats reach Key West. |
| April |
30 |
1980 |
Johnny Jones is convicted of grand theft. |
| May |
9 |
1980 |
Tampa Bay's Sunshine Skyway bridge collapses after being hit by a freighter; 35 die. |
| May |
17 |
1980 |
Jury in Tampa acquits officers in death of Arthur McDuffie, followed by 3 days of riots in Miami; 18 killed. |
| May |
20 |
1980 |
A former missile base on Krome Avenue is reopened as an INS detention center. |
| July |
7 |
1980 |
The first 25-acre section of Metrozoo opens. |
| September |
26 |
1980 |
Mariel boatlift ends. |
| November |
4 |
1980 |
"English only" referendum passes in Dade County. |
| December |
4 |
1980 |
School superintendant Johnny Jones is sentenced in the "gold plumbing caper". The sentence would be overturned in 1985. |
