1890 – Workmen installed seats in the new Baptist Church on Eaton Street. The original church was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1886.
1925 – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Attorney General Harlan Stone left Key West for Washington via train after a fishing expedition. “We fished for two days and caught enough for a month,” said Stone.
1937 – In a ceremony in Bayview Park, the cornerstone for the José Martí Monument was laid. Raoul A. Pizer y Pollo, representing the government of Cuba, presented the cornerstone to Key West Mayor Harry C. Galey.
1940 – Key Wester William W. Demeritt was commissioned a Captain in the Coast Guard. He had been Superintendent of the Seventh Lighthouse District for 26 years, but after the lighthouses were put under the charge of the Coast Guard, he was transferred in the reorganization.
1954 – After an absence of 18 years, the Salvation Army reopened in Key West. Lt. Harry Russell, who graduated from Key West High School, opened a temporary office in the education building of the Old Stone Methodist Church until the Army could buy its own building.
1975 – Key West Police began applying felony charges for the theft of bicycles valued at $100 or more. A total of 571 bicycles were stolen in the city in 1974, and 53 in the previous month.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Captain William W. Demeritt USCG 1940. He had been Superintendent of the Lighthouse District for South Florida. Gift Catherine Moore Daniels. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.