Today in Keys History – December 15
1852 – J.C. Hoyt, agent of the insurance underwriters at Key West, reported that 22 vessels wrecked on the reef or put into port in distress over the previous year. Their total value was $662,800, with recovery expenses and salvage awards of $162,700.
1930 – The German cable ship Neptune started laying a new telephone cable to Cuba. The Key West end of the cable landed at the foot of Waddell Street. The cable was jointly owned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Cuban Telephone Company. This was the fourth cable between Key West and Havana. The ship took two days to complete the cable to Havana.
1940 – The U.S. Naval Air Station Key West was formally established at Trumbo Point.
1986 – The new Metro Key West solid waste furnace on Stock Island was open and running. It burned garbage and rendered it into ash and steam, the latter of which was used to generate electricity.
2009 – Auditors reported to the Key West City Commission that the affordable housing nonprofit organization Bahama Conch Community Land Trust was $1.7 million in debt with no feasible path to solvency.
2014 – Professors Jessica Fain and Bruce Cantrell of Roane State College emerged from the Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo after 73 days, setting a world record for the longest time spent living underwater. The duo taught classes and produced a series of educational videos while submerged.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Mount Trashmore landfill with the waste-to-energy incinerator, Stock Island, July 2, 1988. Ty Symroski Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.