1861 – The Army reported that Fort Taylor mounted the following armament: 60 coastal and garrison cannons, 50 8-inch Columbians and 10 24-inch flanking howitzers.
1906 – The Island City National Bank moved into its new headquarters at 205 Duval Street, Key West.
1911 – Key Westers celebrated the 48th anniversary of Emancipation with a parade from Samaritan Hall on Whitehead Street. The Welters Cornet band led hundreds of marchers, and Anthony Sweeting, a Civil War veteran, carried a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which everybody cheered as it passed.
1923 – The tomato crop on Key Largo was promising: In the previous week, 5,000 crates had been shipped, with an average profit of $4 per crate. And it was thought this yield represented only 10% of the year’s anticipated harvest.
1925 – Key Wester Stephen Lowe purchased a lot adjoining his lumber business along the waterfront off Caroline Street. Lowe’s business was expanding, and he needed the land for a new lumber shed.
1953 – A causeway joining Duck Key with US 1 was opened for traffic. The 1600-foot link was based on 1.5 million cubic yards of fill. Duck Key was being developed by Canadian millionaire Bryan W. Newkirk, and he planned to build stores, shops, yacht clubs, and other community structures there.
1959 – As advance spearheads of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary forces entered Havana, the auto-passenger ferry City of Havana left Key West to evacuate American citizens who wished to return to the U.S.
1965 – The Sands Rooming House, Theodore S. Sands owner, was at 322 Truman Avenue.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Stephen S. Lowe's lumber shed and sail loft, ca. 1910. Photo by Emory Lowe Pierce from the Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.