1823 – The U.S. vessels Peacock, Sea Gull, Decoy, and Mary were at Key West as part of the Navy’s anti-piracy squadron. The schooners Fox and Jackal, accompanied by two U.S. cutters, had sailed on a patrol cruise the day before.
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.
1924 – The City of Key West completed the laying of curbs, and the grading and compacting of marl on Angela, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Olivia streets, as well as Passover and Windsor lanes. Ten thousand gallons of road oil would be applied to finish the improvements.
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.
1935 – Author Ernest Hemingway set out from Key West with friends on his boat Pilar for a fishing trip to Bimini. They returned two hours later after Hemingway shot himself through both calves near American shoal lighthouse as he ham-handedly dispatched a shark they had caught.
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.
1978 – Former President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat were staying at the Ocean Reef Resort on North Key Largo.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Crew working on a street in Key West, 1930s. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.