1923 – A fire began in an unoccupied cigar factory at the corner of White and Newton streets in Key West. The blaze spread and destroyed 43 homes in the area bounded by White, Ashe, Angela, and Petronia streets. The loss was estimated at $125,000 and 40 families were left homeless.
1925 – Ten truckloads of old records, some dating back more than 100 years, were hauled from the Key West Custom House and burned in the city incinerator. The destruction of the “one time valuable but now unimportant” records was authorized by Congress.
1935 – A group of 10 Key West women, led by Mrs. Norberg Thompson, went to Pirate’s Cove on Sugarloaf Key for lunch and an afternoon of playing bridge. Pirate’s Cove was a popular fishing camp, and it also had Florida’s largest “open-air” saltwater pool.
1956 – May Sands, a teacher in the Monroe County School System for 47 years, died at the age of 71. The May Sands School was named for her.
1959 – The Navy made the last operational fight with an airship from Naval Air Station Key West. All the airships (blimps) were transferred to Naval Air Station Glynco in Georgia.
1964 – A Soviet-built helicopter hijacked from Cuba landed undetected at Key West International Airport. Two Cuban Army captains had commandeered the craft, and in the struggle the pilot was killed.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Rendezvous, Pirates Cove from an original lithograph by F. Townsend Morgan. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection in the Otto Hirzel Scrapbook. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.