1890 – Key Wester Charles Moffat, who had established a store near Miami for the purpose of trading with the Everglades Indians, came to Key West for groceries and brought with him 19 pounds of alligator teeth, 500 alligator and deer skins, and several white crane plumes.
1906 – There was a considerable disturbance on the Key West waterfront when local spongers attacked a group of Greek spongers. Police intervened before anyone was seriously hurt. The Key Westers believed that the Greeks, who used diving gear, were destroying the sponge beds with their equipment.
1921 – After a year of construction, the new E.H. Gato cigar factory at Simonton and Virginia streets was opened for business. The large, reinforced-concrete building was expected accommodate 2,400 employees.
1926 – The Cuban anniversary celebration “Grito de Baire” began at noon when the Cuban Navy Cruiser Cuba fired a 21-gun salute.
1937 – In a ceremony, in Bayview Park, the cornerstone for the José Martí Monument was laid. Raoul A. Pizer y Pollo, representing the Government of Cuba, presented the cornerstone to Key West Mayor Harry C. Galey.
1946 – Land prices in Key Largo were on the rise: tracts on the highway with no water frontage averaged $200 an acre; those on the water were fetching $500 an acre. And with evidence of oil apparently found at Card Sound, prices were likely to go even higher.
1967 – Pepe’s Café closed its doors at its 202 Duval Street. It had been at the location for 45 years.
1994 – Passenger arrival figures for 1993 were released, and they showed Monroe County airports had a record year: Key West had just over 435,000 arrivals, and Marathon had 27,600.
2009 – The beloved and infamous Conch Flyer restaurant closed its ground-floor location along the tarmac at the Key West Airport to prepare for a move to the second floor of a new terminal.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Pepe’s Café at 202 Duval Street C 1950s. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.