A new renovation is restoring prominence to one of Key West's oldest public spaces.

On January 21, 1880, Ulysses S. Grant became the first U.S. President to visit Key West.

A New York Times reporter wrote a vivid description of the Key West in 1873.

In November 1831, a ship carrying 230 Irish laborers to New Orleans ran aground. The passengers rose up and caused havoc in Key West.

In 1880, Key West was briefly at the center of an alleged election fraud scandal in the Presidential election.

In 1964, a hurricane led the Beatles to make an impromptu stop in Key West.

The first locomotive to reach Key West was actually in 1853 - after it was salvaged from a shipwreck.

Passengers on a ship struck with cholera in 1852 were refused refuge in Key West and instead banished to desolate Sand Key.

Before key lime pie was Key West's signature dessert, Miss Etta Patterson's coconut cake was a favorite, served to Presidents.

An 1860 letter in the FKHC collection is a firsthand account of the conditions of survivors from a captured slave ship.