1836 – Alden A.M. Jackson was named Postmaster of Key West.
1884 – A special agent of the Department of Justice arrived at Key West to work with local civic and military authorities to prevent filibustering expeditions from leaving the island to aid Cuban rebels. The city was being patrolled by armed marines and revenue cutters were cruising the coast to thwart the organization and departure of any such clandestine voyages.
1893 – The Key West Cornet Band was the “Champion of the State.” The officers of the band were: Charles A. Shavers, president; F.W. Adams Jr., vice president; F.E. Welters, secretary; N.F. English, treasurer and Cubel Mickens, leader and director.
1898 – Lewis Otto was named Postmaster of Key West.
1916 – Major General George H. Barnett, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, visited Key West to inspect the Marine detachment and barracks at the Naval Station.
1933 – Ernest Hemingway, Charles Thompson, and Joe Russell left for a Gulf Stream fishing expedition on Russell’s launch Anita. The group was in search of marlin, and Hemingway said he would not be satisfied until he had taken the world record.
1937 – A party from Green Bay, Wisconsin fishing with charter boat captain Jake Key brought in a Kingfish that weighed 121 pounds.
1941 – Congress approved a $50,000 allotment for the Florida Keys Cooperative Electric Association to begin building 89 miles of electric line to serve 525 members on the Florida Keys.
1943 – Monroe County residents consumed 196,269 gallons of gasoline during the month of February.
1949 – General Dwight Eisenhower and the Joint Chiefs of Staff left Key West after three days of meeting. General Eisenhower, who had been recuperating in Key West since March 28, went to Georgia for more rest and the other Chiefs returned to Washington.
1950 – President Gonzales Videla of Chile departed Boca Chica at 11 a.m. to continue his journey to Washington for a meeting with President Truman.
1956 – Adlai Stevenson, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, spoke to an overflow crowd at Bayview Park.
2007 – The Islamorada Village Council unanimously selected Dave Boerner as mayor.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Field Inspection of the Marine Guard of the Key West Naval Station in 1913. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.