1839 – The barque Mary Ballard, sailing from Boston to New Orleans with a cargo of ice and salt fish, wrecked on Carysfort Reef. The crew threw a quantity of ice to lighten and refloat the vessel but to no avail. Four wrecking vessels were able to get it off the reef with no injury.
1884 – The sponge trade was strong at Key West: The most recent auction brought $19,401.47, and sales over the month totaled nearly $40,000.
1897 – Secretary of the Navy John D. Long asked Congress to aggregate $54,000 of naval appropriations so the money could be used to build a coaling station at Key West. This was intended to be the first step toward making the island a formidable naval rendezvous.
1936 – At the beginning of the year the Key West Citizen promised to give the Library $5 for every day the sun did not shine. This only cost the paper $5, as only on March 9 the sun did not appear.
1969 – Two brothers, ages 9 and 12, confessed to having started the fire that nearly destroyed the Poinciana Shopping Center on Duck Avenue two days earlier.
2013 – For the first time in nearly 50 years, a charter passenger plane flew from Key West to Havana. Two pilots and seven passengers, including Key West Mayor Craig Cates, made the 30-minute flight, which had been arranged by the Florida Keys Tropical Research Ecological Exchange Institute.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The coal sheds at Pier A at Naval Station Key West C 1910. From the Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center