February 20

1521 – Juan Ponce de León sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.

1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, northeast of modern day Corpus Christi, becoming the basis for France’s claim to Texas.

1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed into law by President Washington.

1864 – The largest battle fought in Florida during the Civil War occurs near Ocean Pond in Olustee, Baker county Florida

1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

1905 – The Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts’s mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.

1931 – Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

1933 – Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal prohibition, sending the 21st Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification to repeal the 18th Amendment.

1942 – In the South Pacific off Bougainville Island, while flying a Grumman F4F3A from the carrier USS Lexington as part of a carrier defense intercept flight against 9 Japanese bombers, Navy Lieutenant Edward O’Hare is credited with shooting down 5 of the bombers, becoming the first U.S. Navy  “Ace” of World War II and is later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.

1962 – While aboard Mercury capsule Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making 3 orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes.

1965 – NASA’s Ranger 8 probe crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir space station, remaining in orbit for 15 years.

1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

2003 – During a concert performance in West Warwick, Rhode Island by the rock group Great White, a pyrotechnics display sets The Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 people and injuring over 200 others.

2016 – 6 people are killed and 2 wounded by an Uber driver in multiple random shootings in Kalamazoo County, Michigan with the shooter finally being arrested the next day.