1850 – Two men were rescued from Matecumbe Key, after having been stranded there for five days. They were crewmen from the brig New Orleans that had gone to pieces in a storm near Sand Key on the 22nd. They had clung to a portion of the vessel’s stern and floated over 70 miles before reaching land.
1856 – A hurricane struck much of the length of the Florida Keys, with ships wrecked from Indian Key to the Dry Tortugas, most notably the ship Isaac Allerton, sunk in Hawk Channel near the Saddlebunch Keys.
1901 – Two Key West boys were shocked, one fatally. The two were on Division Street (Truman Avenue) swinging a 10-foot-long wire at birds, when it became entangled in the overhead electrical lines that powered the street trolley.
1906 – The Key West Public Library was at the Masonic Temple at 315 Simonton St. Librarian Mary Hobson was in charge of the 1,600 volumes.
1925 – The Coast Guard seized the British schooner Fannie E. Prescott off the Florida Keys with 1,750 cases of beer on board. The captain claimed he was sailing from Havana to Nassau with no intention of a U.S. landing. British and American diplomats were working to resolve the situation.
1938 – Edward “Coto” Garcia was selected to sing at New York World’s Fair of 1939.
1954 – Del Layton of Layton’s Long Key Camp was building a two-story, CBS home on Long Key at a cost of $7,900.
1955 – Governor Marvin Griffin of Georgia was visiting Key West and was taken fishing by his long-time friend Hilario Ramos.
1973 – The Attorney General of Florida ruled that a Monroe County referendum to limit the height of buildings was not a valid use of the election process.
1977 – Manuel A. Jimenez was named publisher of the Key West Citizen.
1979 – County Administrator E.P. Roberts Jr. resigned effective 31 August. Roberts was hired in April 1979 as the first County Administrator.
1985 – Tropical Storm Elena passed over Key West with wind gusting to 56 mph and 1.72 inches of rain. The storm caused minimal damage in the keys.
2008 – Key West native Donie Lee was named the city’s new Police Chief. Lee had served as interim chief since the resignation of former chief Bill Mauldin in April.
2013 – The Southernmost Hotel Collection, including the Southernmost Hotel, the La Mer and Dewey guesthouses, and the Southernmost Beach Café, was sold to la Salle Hotel Properties for $184.5 million.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A postcard used in the No High Rise fight in the 1970s. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.