1904 – Fred Ewert was hanged for the murder of Frank Whitaker. The gallows was erected behind the Monroe County Jail at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming streets.
1909 – The Key West City Council appointed a committee to explore the advisability of establishing an additional cemetery on Stock Island.
1954 – Local television dealer Alex Lubinsky donated a 17-inch TV to the Key West Police Department for the benefit of desk officers, so they would not have to suffer long hours of boredom. The department quickly began raising money for the purchase of an antenna.
1956 – Secretary of State John Foster Dulles left Key West after two weeks of recuperation from an abdominal operation performed at Walter Reed Hospital.
1986 – Joaquin “Bolo” Godinet died at age 85. For 64 years he had delivered the Miami Herald in Key West via bicycle. A 1956 profile of Godinet said, “he is a kind, courteous, gentlemanly, and friendly man, not very talkative, but faithful to his duties; even on rainy mornings he is seen delivering the newspaper on his bicycle.”
1993 – Key West resident Jerry Frantz was one of ten people nationwide to receive the award “People Fighting the Fight” for his volunteer efforts in bringing awareness to the AIDS cause.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Joaquin “Bolo” Godinet, Keys newspaper delivery man, in front of the Miami Herald office at 1201 Duval Street on July 3, 1984. Gift of Nancy Klingener. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.