1867 – The new submarine telegraph cable running between Key West and Havana was successfully spliced and was working well.
1921 – The 700-ton, four-masted schooner Marie J. Thompson was launched at Harbour Island, Bahamas. The Marie J. was built for Key Wester Norberg Thompson, who was going to use the vessel to carry lumber to his Key West cigar box factory.
1933 – Mollie Parker, chair of the Key West beautification committee, offered to buy 10,000 Spanish lime seeds at 5 cents a quart. Many island children, and some adults, took her up on the offer, and she soon had 100 quarts.
1954 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez announced a full-scale clean-up of Duval Street. Police raided two Duval Street bars and arrested two strip-dancers, the owner of one bar and the manager of another.
1954 – Dr. Enrique Rodriguez, 87-year-old retired physician who had practiced medicine in Key West for 55 years, estimated he had delivered almost 10,000 babies in the city. At one time he was the island’s only obstetrician.
1971 – The glass-bottom boat and concession stand in Key Largo’s Pennekamp State Park were evacuated after a man called and said a bomb had been placed nearby and would soon explode. Sheriff’s deputies investigated and found no explosives.
2008 – Tropical Storm Fay hit the Florida Keys, dropping more than 6 inches of rain on Key West.
2010 – A five-pound gold bar from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Santa Margarita was stolen from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West. The bar, which was in a case designed to allow visitors to touch and lift it, had been on display for nearly 30 years.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Dr. Enrique Rodriguez Basso passport application photo dated 18 March 1930. The Joan and Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.