1841 – Rigging and other equipment salvaged from the ship Manchester, sailing from Havre to Mobile in ballast, were auctioned at Key West. The hull and spars were sold as is, sitting on the reef, for $1,260.
1892 – The U.S. steamers Philadelphia and Concord arrived of Sand Key Light to begin target practice with their large guns.
1915 – New world champion heavyweight boxer Jess Willard arrived at Key West on the steamer Governor Cobb, after having defeated Jack Johnson on April 5 in an epic, 26-round bout in Havana. Several thousand people greeted Willard at the pier; so many that police had difficulty maintaining order. Willard paraded through town in a carriage, before heading to his hotel.
1926 – The automotive magazine “The Studebaker Wheel” published an article describing the Overseas Highway being constructed through the Florida Keys. “Overseas, by automobile: Literally it has become a fact rivalling the weird fiction of Jules Verne,” the publication marveled.
1935 – Joseph “Sloppy Joe” Russell purchased the building that formerly housed the Victoria Restaurant on the corner of Duval and Greene Streets and moved his Sloppy Joe’s Bar from its former location at 428 Greene St. to the building.
1939 – The schooner Western Union was launched, the last large schooner built in Key West. Norberg Thompson built the ship for lease to the Western Union Telegraph Company.
1949 – Fausto’s Food Palace, a new ultra-modern store, opened at 522 Fleming St. The store was owned and operated by Ana and Carl Weekley. Ana Weekley was the daughter of the late Fausto Castillo, who founded the original store.
1978 – Former President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat were staying at the Ocean Reef Resort on North Key Largo.
1983 – Monroe County Commissioner Wilhelmina Harvey conducted the groundbreaking for the TV Translator System at the tower site on West Summerland Key.
1987 – Monroe County Commissioners attended a cornerstone laying ceremony for the J. Lancelot Lester Justice Building on the corner of Whitehead and Southard Streets.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Overseas Highway circa 1920s. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.