1864 – Admiral Theodorus Bailey, flag officer commanding the East Gulf Blockading Squadron at Key West, wrote: “My worst fears have been more than realized, and for more than two months [yellow fever] has held its course without abatement… [it] has been raging at this post with a violence that has exceeded that of 1862, or I believe of any previous year.”
1865 – A visitor arriving at Key West wrote, “The view as you approach Key West is decidedly tropical. Tall cocoa nut trees wave their graceful plumes; dark fir trees fill in the background. Little boys of mixed races were diving and swimming in the water as though it were their native element.”
1863 – In a ceremony at Clinton Place in Key West, the local citizenry presented a $750 gold sword to Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Commander of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment. Col. Good had earlier rescinded an order that would have banished nearly 600 Key Westers suspected to be Confederate sympathizers to Charleston.
1961 – After a 2 ½ day journey, a 45-foot fishing boat with 49 refugees on board arrived at Key West from the Cuban port town of Coloma. The refugees said two or three other boats were also on their way.
1950 – The combined USO Center and YMCA at the corner of Whitehead and Southard streets in Jackson Square provided services and entertainment to military personnel stationed in Key West.
1981 – The Navy began dismantling the large radio towers that had stood at the Key West Naval Station since the early part of the 1900s.
1929 – A farewell dinner was held at the town of Perky for workmen who were leaving for an extended vacation. Mr. R.C. Perky, founder and mayor of the small Sugarloaf Key community, served as toastmaster and handed out gag prizes, “which kept the company in uproarious laughter.”
1954 – John P. Goggin (third from left) was named Marathon’s “Outstanding Citizen” by the Marathon Memorial American Legion. Goggin was the Monroe County Engineer, president of the Marathon Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Marathon Lions Club and Little Theater group.
2008 – Robert the Doll traveled outside of Key West for the first time to make an appearance at a paranormal conference in Clearwater.
1986 – The Monroe County Library Board presented Betty Bruce with a special award for her work in establishing the Local and State History Collection in the Key West library (now the Florida Keys History Center). Bruce worked in the library system for 20 years before retiring in 1985.