1. Hurricane Season Peaks
September 23rd marks the peak of hurricane season in Florida. Since the state is particularly vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes due to its location and shape, it is always on alert during this time. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, struck Florida on September 23rd.

2. First Spanish Settlement
On September 23rd, 1565, Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States. St. Augustine, located in northeastern Florida, is considered the oldest continuously inhabited city in the country.

3. PGA Tour Championship
In 2018, the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the final round of the PGA Tour Championship. However, it was a bittersweet victory for American golfer Tiger Woods, who won the tournament in a dramatic fashion while his mother Reginald was hospitalized in Naples, Florida, due to a health scare.

4. Opening of Walt Disney World
On September 23rd, 1971, the Walt Disney World Resort officially opened its doors to the public in Orlando. The resort, which includes theme parks, water parks, hotels, and shopping and dining venues, is one of the world's top tourist destinations and generates billions of dollars for the state's economy.

5. Space Shuttle Atlantis Lands
On September 23rd, 2000, the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after completing a successful mission to deploy a tracking and data relay satellite. The landing marked the end of a 10-day voyage for the crew, which included four spacewalks to perform maintenance on the International Space Station.