1827 – Construction began on the first lighthouse on Sand Key. The 60-foot brick structure would be completed in 70 days.
1913 – The firm of Wm. Curry & Sons had six large schooners – Kenwood, T.W. Dunn, Charles W. Enchcott, Dorothy Bell, Magnolia, and Martha – engaged in the transport of merchandise and material to and from Key West.
1913 – The Rev. Charles T. Stout of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church resigned. He felt he did not have the strength to bear the heat of another summer season or to oversee the construction of a new church to replace the one destroyed in the 1909 hurricane.
1946 – The Navy announced that a submarine squadron consisting of one tender and 10 submarines would be based in Key West. The ships had a total of 1,200 personnel.
1976 – Musician Jimmy Buffett held a free concert at Key West’s Mallory Square. It was a cold and windy night, with temperatures in the low 50s, but over 1,000 people turned out for the event.
2014 – A magnitude 5.1 earthquake, centered 110 miles southeast of Key West off the Cuban coast, caused buildings throughout the Florida Keys to shake.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The top of Curry Sons building taken from the Jefferson Hotel C 1900. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center