Find earliest date based on certain criteria

Ok so let me set this up. I have 2 columns:

Project Date Start
NY 1/14/2009
Cali 5/6/2010
NY 7/2/2009
NY 8/2/2010
Cali 3/2/2009
Cali 10/2/2011

Ok, so what function can I use that will output the earliest "Date Start" but using the criteria of "Project". I want to make sure that when this list grows to 1,000+ that I don't have to go back through and create a new formula each time. The objective is to have Tab 1 show:

Project Date Start
California 3/2/2009
New York 1/14/2009

So on and so forth for new projects as they come on.

Things I have tried and might just be scripting wrong (Keep in mind that for me "Project" is column B and "Date Start" is column E:

=IF((IF(T(B:B)="cali",COUNT(E:E),"")),MIN(E:E),"")

I have found several ways to pull the lowest date, but not when I need it to reference it based on the criteria of "Project". Anything you can offer would be great! Thanks!