1867 – The first official telegraphic messages were sent between Key West and Cuba. Key West Mayor E. O. Gwynn wrote to Cuban Captain-General Manzano: “As our facilities of intercourse improve, so may our mutual interests and prosperity increase.” Manzano replied: “I celebrate this happy event, which, giving us more rapid communication, will powerfully contribute toward the development of our mutual interests and prosperity.”
1900 – Several thousand Key Westers watched a quarter-mile race at Barracks Beach between the horses Laconda and Levin. Laconda won by a length. The bet was $1,000 a side, and much money passed hands outside of the official stakes.
1906 – The members of the Board of Pilot Commissioners were Charles C. Curtis, Oscar Clifton, P.T. Knight, William H. Malone Jr. and M.S. Moreno.
1923 – Key West Mayor Frank Ladd paid a courtesy call on the Mayor of Havana Jose Maria de la Cuesta.
1933 – Berardo Rodriguez relieved Colonel Rafael Cervino as Cuban Consul in the office at the San Carlos.
1937 – The Public Works Administration announced that it had 600 men working on the new Overseas Highway, and the road would be open to the public by the start of the new year.
1947 – Federal Judge John W. Holland sentenced Navy cook Joseph Watson to death in the electric chair for the murder of seaman Benjamin L. Hobbes. The murder occurred on the Navy destroyer USS Stribling in Key West on July 25, 1946.
1953 – Key West rolled out the red carpet to welcome home Sergeant First Class Julio LaTorre upon on his return from 2 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Korea.
1991 – Some Keys residents were upset about the destruction of Lois Key by rhesus monkeys kept there by Charles River Laboratories under contract with Bausch and Lomb. The monkeys had stripped the island of vegetation.
1995 – Former President George H.W. Bush was in Islamorada for the Second Annual George Bush/Cheeca Lodge Bonefish Tournament.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Cuban Telegraph Cable landing near Fort Taylor in 1867. Sketched by Dr. J.B. Holder, published in Harper’s Weekly of September 7, 1867. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.