1928 – Adjutant General Vivien B. Collins authorized National Guard units from Miami and Key West to Matecumbe Key to quell disturbances caused by striking veterans employed on FERA bridge projects for the Overseas Highway.
1935 – The Key West Art Gallery opened in the Caroline Lowe house on Duval Street.
1949 – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, along with other structures in the area of Southard, Duval, and Bahama streets, was threatened by fire in the early morning hours. First, the Bethel home on Duval was accidentally set ablaze by a dropped cigarette. Shortly after, multiple outbuildings on the church grounds were aflame, apparently ignited by an arsonist.
1950 – The shrimp beds of the western Florida Keys continued to produce astounding yields: Over 100,000 pounds of “pink gold” were landed at Key West on this day alone.
1953 – Rev. W.N. Everett was named pastor of the Bethel A.M.E. Church at 907 Thomas St., Key West.
1953 – The Islander, Monroe County’s first modern drive-in theater, opened for business on Stock Island. It had the largest screen in the state of Florida. The featured film was “The Cimarron Kid” starring Audie Murphy and Yvette Dugay. The theater had space for 600 cars with about 2,000 patrons.
1963 – Rear Admiral R.Y. McElroy, Commander of Key West Forces, was presented the Legion of Merit for his meritorious performance of duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1996 – The Key West High School baseball team was rated No. 1 in the country by USA Today.
2006 – MTV’s “The Real World: Key West,” a television series that followed the exploits of seven 20-something strangers who came together to live in a Key Haven home, aired the first of its 25 episodes. The premiere had 3.33 million viewers.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: An aerial of the drive-in movie theater on Stock Island circa 1970s. Photo by Cory McDonald. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.