1907 – George Patterson took charge of the U.S. Weather Bureau’s Key West station from H.G. Cornthwaite, who went to Northfield, VT.
1910 – Captain Graham Lowe arrived in Key West after a harrowing journey from the Shark River on mainland Monroe County. Lowe was part of a crew gathering buttonwood, when the mosquitoes became so fierce that he felt compelled to abandon the work and escape on a small boat. The boat flipped in bad weather, though, and he was thrown in the water. He saved himself 48 hours later by drifting into water shallow enough to stand and right the vessel.
1914 – The U.S. Revenue Cutter Windom arrived at Key West after a long patrol to enforce sponging laws along the Keys sponge beds. The crew had no idea that a major war had broken out in Europe.
1964 – Bernie C. Papy, 62-year-old Key West political leader, died. He had served 14 consecutive terms in the state legislature before being defeated by Charlie Ramos in 1962. Papy had again won the last Democratic primary and was certain to return to the Florida House. Papy was a powerful and influential politician and at the height of his career was considered “King of the Keys.”
1985 – Johnny Carson, star of NBC Television’s Tonight Show was in Key West to visit the wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha as guest of famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher.
1994 – Fourteen Cuban refugees, all members of the same family, landed at the Marathon Airport in a stolen crop-duster plane. The group arrived without incident, and they were greeted warmly by airport personnel.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: John Spottswood (L) and Bernie C. Papy (R) with election night returns, ca. 1960. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.