Betty and Toby Bruce with Ernest Hemingway
1886 – Jefferson B. Browne was named Postmaster of Key West.
1910 – A horse of the Key West Fire Department’s Engine No.1 died after suddenly taking ill while returning from its bath at South Beach.
1924 – Local Boy Scout troops 1 & 2 had to cancel their visit to Havana because of a typhoid outbreak in that city.
1926 – A Florida East Coast train set a speed record by traveling from Key West to Jacksonville in 12 hours and 50 minutes, including multiple stops along the way.
1945 – Key West Mayor Willard M. Albury tendered his resignation as mayor to the City Council which elected John Carbonell Jr. to fill the unexpired term that ended in November.
1951 – Dr. E.K. Langford of the Monroe County Health Department estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 rats were living on Key West, and they were costing residents $125,000 annually in damage.
1954 – Paul Mesa retired from the City Electric System after 46 years. When he stated to work the electric company was owned by Stone and Webster and had only 400 customers.
1964 – A small boat containing the belongings and paperwork of two Cuban men came ashore at Conch Key, but no one was on board. The boat was riddled with bullet holes, and it was suspected the men had been killed by Cuban militiamen as they tried to make an escape from the island.
1975 – Anthony Quinn and playwright Tennessee Williams met in Key West about the revival of William’s play “The Red Devil Battery Sign.”
1986 – The Monroe County Library Board presented Betty Bruce with a special award for her work in establishing the Local and State History Collection in the library. She worked in the library for 20 years before retiring in 1985.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Betty and Toby Bruce with Ernest Hemingway. Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.