1824 – The brig Amelia arrived at Liverpool from New Orleans, minus the captain and first mate. The men had died at the Florida Keys after being served dolphin that had not been inspected for poison. It was known that fish from Keys waters could be toxic, and the cook did not dip a silver spoon into the water in which it was being boiled. A color change would have indicated poison.
1931 – A revolt against President Machado was spreading over Cuba. The leader of the revolt was former president Menocal.
1940 – The Key West Housing Authority named its complex at White and Eaton streets in honor of Dr. Joseph Yates Porter. Porter had efficiently handled multiple yellow fever outbreaks on the island in the 1800s, and had been the Florida State Health Officer from 1889-1917.
1941 – Mom’s Tea Room near Fort Taylor was raided, and three women were arrested for prostitution.
1968 – The Pier House Motel at Duval-On-the-Gulf opened for business. The 50-room motel was developed by David Wolkowsky.
1974 – Angelo Donghia of New York bought the Peacon House on Eaton Street from Dr. and Mrs. Moldawer. Donghia was the owner of Vice Veers fabric house and Burge-Donghia Interiors.
1975 – The San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land bought uninhabited Pye, Buttonwood, and Dreguez Keys, along with a cactus hammock and mangrove shoreline on Big Pine Key, for preservation purposes.
1979 – Workers re-digging a well at 902 Whitehead Street found gold estimated to be worth about $1,000. The gold was believed to have come from melted coins.
1981 – The U.S. Air Force shot down a blimp nicknamed “Fat Albert” after it broke its tether at Cudjoe Key and drifted over the Gulf of Mexico. The 180-foot blimp was found 165 miles away at an altitude of 25,000 feet and shot down by missiles fired from an F-4 aircraft.
2011 – Monroe County School District board members agreed they would have to sell the 6-acre Marathon Manor nursing home property they had purchased for $7 million in 2005. Property values had dropped considerably in the interim, with a recent offer being only $2 million.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Air Force’s “Fat Albert” blimp radar system on Cudjoe Key. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.