1854 – The schooner Montauk arrived at Key West from Mobile with a cargo of lumber for the construction of Browne and Curry’s clipper ship Stephen R. Mallory.
1890 – Renowned baseball player John M. Ward of Brooklyn visited Key West and met with J.E. Cartaya of the Key West Baseball League, Frank Bollo, and other island sportsmen. Ward predicted that the Chicago Pirates, led by Charles Comisky, would take the pennant for the year.
1894 – The British steamer Oxford was on Pickles Reef and in danger of going to pieces. A large hole under the engine room had allowed water to flood the hold. Wreckers had “accomplished nothing,” saving only 5,000 of a cargo of 25,000 bags of sugar. It was hoped a rescue tug would soon arrive.
1926 – Ignacy Paderewski, considered to be the world’s greatest pianist, visited Key West with his wife. Paderewski was the former prime minister of Poland and a signer of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.
1937 – The morning’s auction receipts at the sponge wharf at Caroline and Grinnell streets totaled $8,000.
1947 – The Miami Sun Sox of the Florida International League decided to use Key West hotels to house their players during spring training on the island.
1960 – The Ted Williams-Key West Tarpon Rodeo was opened by Mayor Delio Cobo and baseball great Ted Williams.
1997 – State Sen. Daryl Jones and Rep. Debbie Horan announced they would introduce legislation that would put a referendum on the incorporation of Islamorada on November’s ballot.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Sponge auction ca. 1940. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.