1870 – The Sears School, Key West’s first public school, was established on Free School Lane.
1890 – The Key West Investment Company was organized with $300,000 in capital. Spokesman James A. Waddell said, “Now we are going to build a railroad from New York to Key West, along the Indian River, across to Fort Lauderdale, then to Elliott Key, and so on, on these keys and piles, to the city.”
1905 – At one o’clock in the afternoon, Key West switched from central time to Eastern standard time.
1908 – The Mallory Steamship Company was offering passengers a special holiday rate of $12.85 from Tampa to Key West and return.
1923 – Heavy winds had blown for several weeks and caused sponge beds throughout the Keys to become so silted that hooking any was nearly impossible. Spongers were expected to stop work and start for home.
1924 – The Key West chapter of the American Red Cross conducted a physical examination of the students at the Convent of Mary Immaculate. Of the 158 pupils they looked at, only four were found to be defective in any way, and those defects were of the teeth and eyesight.
1934 – Monroe County Sheriff K.O. Thompson stationed deputies at Lower Matecumbe Key to keep order at the bridge workers’ encampments and to stop the sale of contraband liquor that was being brought in for the men.
1996 – Mary Spottswood, Key West’s grande dame and Spottswood family matriarch, died at age 73. Her late husband John had been Monroe County Sheriff, State Senator, and owner of the Casa Marina and La Concha Hotels.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Sears Public School at the end of Free School Lane in Key West C 1890. Gift of Pat Warren Wheeler. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center