The Lower Matecumbe toll booth on the Overseas Highway C 1940.
1861– At Fort Taylor the men were working to close all the ports on the lower tier which were twenty feet above the water line.
1900 – Acting Assistant Surgeon J.W. Thomas of the U.S. Army reported that there had been 5,000 cases of yellow fever at Key West between Sept. 6 and Nov. 30, 1899.
1912 – A fire at the Dry Tortugas destroyed the lighthouse keeper’s quarters and Marine Barracks. The Marine Barracks building was a three-story brick building, 200 feet long.
1919 – Armour & Co.’s food packing facility at Key West was ordered closed by the Federal Food Administrator for multiple violations, including profiteering on rice, giving rebates to favored customers, and price discrimination.
1923 – The Key West Electric Company reported that 1,708,615 passengers rode the street cars in 1922. That equaled about 95 rides during the year for every person in the city.
1940 – The Overseas Toll Road district reported that 13,452 vehicles of all kinds passed through the toll gates during December 1939.
1951 – Popular radio entertainer Arthur Godfrey, of CBS Radio, broadcast his daily show from Pigeon Key.
1952 – The Florida Keys were experiencing a critical water shortage. The aqueduct was carrying its maximum of 3 million gallons a day, but increased demand from new homes, apartments, and motels was exceeding capacity.
1969 – After holding at 5 cents per copy for more than 50 years, The Key West Citizen raised its rates to 10 cents daily and 15 cents on Sunday.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Lower Matecumbe tollbooth on the Overseas Highway circa 1940. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.