1822 – Commodore David Porter arrived at New York City with other Navy officials to purchase a steamboat for his expedition against West Indian pirates and to procure necessities for the establishment of a Naval depot at Key West.
1927 – Land purchased on Key Largo by Massachusetts Senator William Butler was being subdivided, and an office was to be opened in Miami where the lots would then be offered for sale.
1932 – After spending Christmas in jail, 10 homeless men were driven from Key West to No Name Key, put on the ferry to Matecumbe, then driven to the county line. There, they were told Monroe County was no place for vagrants and warned to stay away.
1934 – The Long Key Fishing Camp opened a week early for its 1934-35 season. Guests had already arrived, including Margaret Howard, Countess of Suffolk.
1941 – Lieut. J.L. Hoover of the Miami Beach Police Department was in Key West to learn more about how the island city implemented its wartime blackouts. Key West had a reputation for exemplary conduct and excellent methods in implementing blackouts.
1945 – The City of Key West agreed to secure a glass eye for Charles Lee Clark from a Miami doctor, after Clark lost his eye in a scuffle with a police officer. Clark was told he would be given a bus ticket to his Georgia home after the procedure, with the warning he was not to come back as he “seemed to get in trouble here.”
1976 – Cecil W. Bain, respected leader of the Black community, died at the Florida Keys Memorial Hospital. He was 51 years old and a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where he served on the vestry board.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A dance at the VFW/Legion Hall C 1960s. Back row: Cecil Bain Sr., Wilfred Wallace, unknown, Isaac Fisher. Front row: Eugene Bell, Anthony Castillo, and Lang Milan. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center