, 1589 St. Augustine was founded by the SpainSpanish. The first Christian worship service held in a permanent settlement in the current United States was a Catholic Mass celebrated in St. Augustine. A few settlements were founded prior to St. Augustine but all failed, including the original Pensacola, FloridaPensacola colony in West Florida (founded 1559) — which was wiped out by a hurricane a mere two years after its founding, and Fort Caroline in what is today Jacksonville, Florida in 1564. The city was founded by the Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés on August 28, 1565, the feast day of Augustine of Hippo, and consequently named by him 'San Agustín'. Martin de Arguelles, the first American of European ancestry, was born here one year later in 1566. This came 21 years before the EnglandEnglish settlement at Roanoke Island, in Virginia Colony, and 42 years before the successful settlements of Santa Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe, New Mexico, and Jamestown, VirginiaJamestown, Virginia. In 1586 St. Augustine was attacked and burned by Sir Francis Drake. In 1668 it was plundered by pirates and most of the inhabitants were killed. In 1702 and 1740 it was unsuccessfully attacked by British forces from their new colonies in the Carolinas and Province of GeorgiaGeorgia. The most serious of these came in the latter year, when James Oglethorpe of Georgia allied himself with Ahaya the Cowkeeper, chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe to lay siege to the city. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris (1763)Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War and gave Florida and St. Augustine to the British, an acquisition the British had been unable to take by force and keep due to the strong fort there. St. Augustine came under British rule and served as a Loyalist (pro-British) colony during the American Revolutionary War. A Treaty of Paris (1783)Treaty of Paris in 1783 gave the American colonies north of Florida their independence, and ceded Florida to Spain in recognition of West Indies and Gulf Coast campaignsSpanish success during the war. Florida was under Spanish control again from 1784 to 1821. During this time, Spain was being invaded by Napoleon and was struggling to retain its colonies. Florida no longer held its past importance to Spain. The expanding United States, however, regarded Florida as vital to its interests. In 1821, the Adams-Onís Treaty peaceably turned the Spanish colonies in Florida and, with them, St. Augustine, over to the United States. , St. Augustine, ca. 1858 Florida was a United States territory until 1845 when it became a U.S. state. In 1861, the American Civil War began and Florida seceded from the Union (American Civil War)Union and joined the Confederate States of AmericaConfederacy. Days before Florida seceded, state troops took the fort at St. Augustine from a small Union garrison (January 7, 1861). However, federal troops loyal to the United States Government quickly reoccupied the city (March 11, 1862) and remained in control throughout the four-year-long war. In 1865, Florida rejoined the United States. SpainSpanish Colonial era buildings still existing in the city include the fortress Castillo de San Marcos. The fortress successfully repelled the British attacks of the 18th century, was occupied by Union troops during the American Civil War, and later served as a prison for the Native Americans in the United StatesNative American leader Osceola. It is now the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. In the late 19th century the railroad came to town, and led by northeastern industrialist Henry Flagler, St. Augustine became a winter resort for the very wealthy. A number of mansions and palatial grand hotels of this era still exist, some converted to other use, such as housing parts of Flagler College and museums. Flagler went on to develop much more of Florida's east coast, including his Florida East Coast Railway which eventually reached Key West in 1912. The city is a popular tourist attraction, for the rich Spanish Colonial Revival Style architectureSpanish Colonial Revival Style architectural heritage as well as elite 19th century architecture. In 1938 the theme park Marineland of FloridaMarineland opened just south of St. Augustine, becoming one of Florida's first themed parks and setting the stage for the development of this industry in the following decades. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine%2C_Florida