1845 – A writer at Key West complained that the weather was severe, and the thermometer had dropped to 60 degrees.
1888 – The contract for the Custom House at the end of Whitehead Street was awarded. The structure would be completed at a cost of $107,955.96 and occupied the latter part of 1891.
1899 – The city of Key West was rapidly filling with strangers and tourists. The season was expected to be a good one.
1906 – The schooners Wave and Lily White of Key West were salvaging a cargo of lumber from a vessel found bottom-up on the reef near Duck Key.
1933 – Ground for the new Key West Aquarium was broken and began to be excavated and levelled. It was expected that when completed, the aquarium could comfortably house 5,000 fish in 26 tanks.
1969 – Gen. Leonard Fielding Chapman, Jr., Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, was in Key West. Chapman was an island native and had returned with his wife and father for an informal visit.
1977 – Governor Reubin Askew named David Kirwan Circuit Court judge to replace Gabriel Mazzeo, who had resigned.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Custom House under construction on November 29, 1889. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center