1831 – The 230 Irish canal workers rescued from the wreck of the ship Maria at Carysfort Reef, and who had caused much unwanted excitement at Key West, left the island on another ship to continue their voyage to New Orleans.
1841 – The schooner Boston Packet, sailing from New Orleans to Guadeloupe with a cargo of tobacco and wooden staves, wrecked on the western Dry Rocks, four miles from Sand Key. Wreckers got the vessel off the reef and were awarded 40% of its $2,398 value.
1903 – Artist Winslow Homer left New York for Key West on the Mallory Line Steamer Sabine. During this trip to Florida, Homer executed his last series of watercolors.
1909 – A new organization called the Key West Progressive Association was formed with the purpose of raising funds to rebuild cigar factories destroyed in the October hurricane. Otherwise, it was feared the businesses would relocate to Tampa.
1934 – Arnold Gingrich, editor of Esquire magazine, arrived at Key West for a three-day fishing trip with authors and island residents Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. The fishing party caught mackerel, tuna, barracuda, and a sailfish while angling from Hemingway’s cabin cruiser Pilar.
1947 – President Harry Truman interrupted his Key West vacation to go to Everglades City to dedicate the Everglades National Park. After the ceremony, he returned to Key West and continued his vacation.
1953 – Harry Cohen was building a new commercial building on Fleming Street at the corner of Bahama Street that would house five stores and thirteen offices. The building was ready for occupancy by the end of January.
1968 – Charles H. Morris purchased the Key West Citizen and the Artman Press from Norman D. Artman. Artman remained publisher of the paper under the new owners.
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 Nichols Cigar Factory before and after the 1909 Hurricane. Photo by R.W. Harrison. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center