1861 – Captain Meigs reported to headquarters that he had installed a drawbridge and gate to Fort Taylor, both of which are closed every night. He also reported that all the military guns were safe within the Fort.
1903 – At the organizational meeting of the Florida Railroad Commission in Tallahassee, Jefferson B. Browne of Key West was elected chairman.
1905 – Key Wester Charles Kelly died while on a woodcutting expedition at the mainland Monroe County settlement of Flamingo. Kelly was working on shore with two other men, when he told them he was going to the boat. After he failed to return, his colleagues went to investigate and found Kelly lying dead in the bottom of the vessel. A coroner’s jury determined he died of natural causes.
1912 – The R. Fernandez Havana Cigar Factory was destroyed by fire. The company moved its operation to the building on Simonton Street that had been occupied by J.M. Navarro.
1920 – Florida Gov. Sidney Catts appointed his youngest son, Rozier D. Catts, to be harbormaster for the port of Key West.
1941 – Battery E, 265th Coast Artillery, Florida National Guard was inducted into federal service in a brief ceremony at the armory.
1951 – The crew of the 20th-Century-Fox movie “The Frogmen” arrived in Key West. The film, which starred Dana Andrews, Richard Widmark and Gary Merrill, was filmed partly in Key West.
1953 – John Spottswood took over the Monroe County sheriff’s office and appointed two new deputies: Jeff Brodhead and E.E. Sistrunk.
1954 – The tower of Key West’s Old City Hall began to be demolished, and contractors expected that the job would take about a month to complete. The tower was being pulled down because engineers feared structural defects put it in danger of collapse.
1998 – A 50-foot commercial fishing boat went hard aground on Rock Key Reef near Sand Key causing considerable damage to the reef. The boat sank outside the Stock Island Marina as it was being taken in for repairs.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Old City Hall on Greene Street. C 1960. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.