1739 – Capt. Samuel Crow, sailing from Honduras to Rhode Island, saw a wreck at the Dry Tortugas. He drew closer to it and saw a plank nailed to the mast, which bore the inscription “The Mary, Thomas Gladman, Commander, from Jamaica, bound to London, was lost June the 10th Anno Domini 1738, John Saunders, Mate, and Samuel Hogsflesh, Carpenter.”
1842 – The United States signed a contract to build a Marine Hospital at Key West. The hospital was to treat merchant marine sailors The Marine Hospital Service would become the U.S. Public Health Service.
1924 – Customs officers found 321 bottles of contraband liquor stashed in the water at the foot of Whitehead Street. Several arrests were pending in the matter.
1931 – Algernon Blair Company of Montgomery, AL began work on the new Federal Building on Simonton Street at the corner of Caroline Street.
1933 – Many windows throughout Key West were shattered by the concussion produced by the firing of 12-inch mortars at Fort Taylor.
1934 – Nelson English Park at the corner of Thomas and Louisa Streets was dedicated. The main speaker was Samuel J. Welters. The park was named for Nelson English, an African American, who worked for the post office for more than 20 years and was Key West postmaster from 1882 to 1886.
1945 – Harold Colee, executive vice president of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce, presented a centennial plaque to William Curry Sons. William Curry Sons, founded in 1843, was one only three busineses in the state that have been in continuous operation for more than 100 years.
1952 – The City of Key West announced that the Gulf Atlantic Transportation Company had accepted the city’s offer of $150,000 for the purchase of Mallory Docks. The reason for the purchase was to provide adequate docking space for the proposed Havana-Key West Ferry.
1963 – Royal Castle opened its first Key West restaurant at North Roosevelt Boulevard and Fifth Street.
1984 – The freighter Wellwood was pulled off Molasses Reef after 12 days of work. The reef was damaged by the grounding and efforts to pull the ship free.
1995 – The annual mass spawning of coral on the Florida Reef, first documented only five years earlier, was being marketed to divers as an underwater “massive sexual orgy” by some tourism interests.
2011 – The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council kicked off the review and update of the FKNMS management plan. The process was expected to take two to three years to complete.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Royal Castle restaurant in Key West. Photo taken in March, 1974 by the Monroe County Property Appraisers office. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.