Ruth Bryan Owen
1905 – Antonio Betancourt of the Island City Saloon was arrested for selling whisky to a group of boys, ages seven to ten. There was considerable consternation in the city because of the very young age of the boys who purchased the liquor and the fact that many “got beastly drunk from the effects of it.” O.G. Brooks, attorney for the Liquor Dealers Association, defended Betancourt and called into question the parents’ management of their children.
1906 – The Salvation Army drew a crowd of 500 for their Sunday service at the corner of Margaret and Fleming streets in Key West. With such success, the organization was thinking of establishing a permanent presence on the island.
1923 – Kid Sharkey won a six-round boxing match by decision over Avice Oliveros in the ring at Knowles Thirty Acres, corner of James and Grinnell Streets in Key West.
1928 – Ruth Bryan Owen, Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress, returned to Key West from a fishing trip in the Dry Tortugas. She termed the remote islands “the wonderland of the seas.”
1939 – Electric generators were installed at Carysfort Reef, Sombrero Key and American Shoals lighthouses, and electric lights would replace the incandescent oil vapor lights that had been in use since 1910.
1943 – Key West Mayor Willard Albury chose Mrs. Vernon Lowe to act as sponsor in the launching of the frigate, USS Key West, at the American Shipbuilding Company in Cleveland on December 29, 1943. Mrs. Lowe was the sister of Lt. Harold Felton, who had been killed in action.
1958 – The Key West Housing Authority announced that the housing project on Whitehead Street would be named for Robert Gabriel. Gabriel, an African American, served as state representative from Monroe County in 1879 and on the Key West City Commission from 1905 to 1909.
1982 – The Key West Little Major League All Stars defeated West Palm Beach to win the Florida Little Major League crown for second year in a row.
1997 – Key West Little Major League All-Stars won the Florida State Tournament with a 9-8 victory over Ormond Beach in a game played in Key West.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Ruth Bryan Owen. The Heritage House Collection, donated by the Campbell, Poirier and Pound families. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.