1839 – A bottle was found on a Key Largo beach with the following note inside: “Feb.13, 1839. The Brig Margaret, from New Orleans bound to Charleston, Thomas Tyler, master, $150,000 in specie on board, 6 days out, now off the Island of Cuba, attacked by pirates in small vessel, schooner rigged. They have taken everything, scuttled the Brig, and now have us in their custody. – This sly opportunity is taken to inform the world of our situation.” As there was no record of such a vessel, it was supposed the note was someone’s idea of a practical joke.
1898 – The Spanish schooner Saco, captured by the USS Terror and under the command of a Navy prize crew, was at Rodriguez Key after having been blown off course while heading to Key West. All on board were safe.
1909 – The Rev. J.W. Roseborough conducted an organizational meeting of the First Presbyterian Church in the City Hall on Greene Street. Thirty persons were received into the membership.
1926 – Sheriff’s deputies made raids in Key West for Prohibition violations. Despite an attempt to pour it down the drain, booze, along with a slot machine was found at Mexicano’s Stand at Petronia and Elizabeth Streets, and a large quantity of illegal liquor was also found at the La Concha Café on Duval Street.
1933 – Between $75,000 and $80,000 worth of hoarded gold and gold notes had been turned in to the First National Bank at Key West, the result of an edict issued by President Roosevelt stating that, beginning May 1, anyone with $100 or more of gold or gold certificates could be arrested and fined. Bank officials were quite surprised at the number of island residents who had been keeping sizeable quantities of the precious metal in their homes.
1968 – National Air Lines made the first jet landing at Key West International Airport using a Boeing 727. The county had extended the runway and removed obstructions to make the airport usable for jets.
1974 – El Salvador United Methodist Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of Methodist Spanish work in Key West. In 1873 the Florida Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South appointed J.E.A. Van Duzer the first missionary to the Spanish-speaking people of Key West.
1982 – The last span of the new Seven Mile Bridge was put in place.
1992 – Police made a gruesome discovery at a home on Southard Street. They found a man who had been dead for two months, and his roommate was unaware he was dead.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Building the new Seven Mile Bridge circa 1980s. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.