1863 – The U.S. Gunboat Sagamore returned to Key West after a one-month cruise. During that time Sagamore was involved in the rescue of three ships on the Florida Reef, attacked and destroyed the rebel town of Smyrna on the east coast, and captured six blockade running vessels.
1906 – The Key West City Directory listed 7,997 names of people over the age of sixteen. This number, multiplied by 3, gave an estimated population of 23,991 for the city.
1906 – Key West’s fire alarm boxes were not functioning reliably. A new system had been ordered and would be installed in the upcoming weeks. In the interim, alarms had to be sent by telephone.
1942 – The German submarine U-508 sank the freighters Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo about 15 miles south of Key West. The two ships were part a convoy that left from Key West, and they were transporting newly developed radio equipment.
1969 – Two Army Green Berets drowned in a training accident off the Naval Air Station at Boca Chica.
1981 – Seven people were arrested and 30,000 pounds of marijuana worth $7.2 million seized when Florida Marine Patrol officers came upon two lobster boats offloading 400 bales of marijuana onto trucks at Key Largo.
2004 – The Tourist Development Council’s District 3 Advisory Committee approved a $210,000 matching grant for the City of Marathon to build a “tensile membrane type” amphitheater. Onlookers cheered the committee’s unanimous endorsement.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Van loaded with bales of marijuana, ca. 1980. Photo by Wendy Tucker. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.