1829 – The four owners of the Island of Key West – John Simonton, Pardon Greene, John Whitehead and John Fleming – signed an agreement regarding the division of the island.
1833 – Looe Key was described by Key West customs collector William Whitehead as being 111 yards long, 52 yards wide and 6 feet above the water.
1891 – Baseball’s Key West Reds were defeated by the Havana Blues, 9 to 1. The Reds’ Peter Gilroy had been sick for two weeks of chills and fever and did not play. There was concern he might be out for the season and the team would disband.
1949 – Three Jewish refugees, all natives of Poland and Nazi concentration camp survivors, were captured at Marathon while attempting to illegally enter the country by boat. They were sent to Miami to face conspiracy charges.
1977 – A contract for constructing the Harry S. Truman animal import center on Fleming Key was awarded. The facility would be capable of quarantining 500 head of foreign livestock coming into the U.S. for a five-month period.
1983 – The City of Key West sought a five-year extension from the EPA for a permit allowing the continued daily discharge of 6.3 million gallons of untreated sewage from an outfall pipe 3,675 feet off Fort Taylor.
2005 – Developers and Monroe County officials were surprised when the U.S. Navy, citing incompatibility with Boca Chica NAS operations, announced it opposed plans for new homes on the southern side of Key Haven and the adjacent Enchanted Island.
2010 – This date was second-coldest day in Keys history: Key West recorded 42 degrees, Marathon 39 degrees, and Key Largo bottomed out at 35 degrees.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: An aerial of the Harry Truman Animal Import Center on Fleming Key. Photo taken by the Federal Government on October 7, 1987. From the Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center