1846 – Key West was reported to be especially quiet because so many residents had left “to enjoy the pleasures of a northern summer.”
1912 – The cap on a fire extinguisher blew off during a fashion show at the San Carlos theater. The bang and hiss of the escaping, pent-up gasses caused a panicky stampede for the exits. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
1916 – Twelve-year-old Cecil Sands of Key West was killed after being run over by an ice wagon. Sands was making ice deliveries, when, while returning to the wagon, the horse started off. Sands was caught under the wheel just below the ribs.
1918 – Twenty-one Navy reservists left Tampa for Key West to undergo training at the island before heading to the war in Europe.
1934 – Wesley House held a rummage sale of second-hand clothing to benefit the needy of Key West.
1943 – The U.S. Naval Air Ship (Blimp) K-74 was shot down by the German submarine U-134 near the Elbow Cay on the Cay Sal Banks about 50 miles southeast of Marathon. Navy ships from Key West rescued the crew except one man who was lost.
1944 – The State of Florida auctioned five-acre Conch Key for $11,000 to high-bidder Frank M. Coward of Miami. Coward said he intended to use the key for a fishing camp.
1956 – The Society of Jesus announced that Father Joseph Maring, S.J., would be replaced as pastor of St. Mary Star of The Sea Catholic Church by Key West native Father Joseph Beaver, S.J. Father Beaver was the first Key West born priest assigned to the parish.
1961 – Ground was broken for the Monroe County Cerebral Palsy and Crippled Association therapy center on Stock Island.
1975 – An unidentified tanker pumped 125,000 gallons of oil into Florida Keys waters overnight, which then drifted onto a 25-mile stretch of Lower Keys beaches and mangrove shorelines and spurred a substantial clean-up effort.
1988 – Mary Spottswood cut the ribbon for the new Key West Citizen building on Northside Drive.
1993 – Author John Updike was given the Conch Prize for Literature.
1993 – The Full Moon Saloon on Simonton Street closed its doors after 12 years, a victim of changing times and increasing rent.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Aerial of Conch Key circa 1960. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.