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1823 – Monroe County, the sixth county in Florida, was established by an act of the territorial legislature and signed by Governor William P. Duval. The new county encompassed all of South Florida below a line running from Charlotte Harbor to Lake Okeechobee to Hillsboro Inlet.
1832 – The ship General Hand, transporting enslaved people from Baltimore to New Orleans, was running short of water and provisions and put in to Key West for supplies.
1864 – A Private at Fort Jefferson wrote, “Several of the Officers are sick, but I do not wonder at that for the night is often made hideous by the excessive use of king alcohol…”
1904 – Mrs. Julia Till, widow of Key West Police Officer Clarence K. Till, was presented with the deed to a house and lot bought by the citizens of Key West. Officer Till had been killed in the line of duty four months earlier.
1911 – The Key West Amusement Company announced plans to build a new theater on its recently-purchased lot on Duval Street opposite San Carlos Hall. The theater would be larger than the San Carlos and boast an attractive front patterned after theaters in larger cities.
1924 – Two switch engines collided head-on in the Florida East Coast Railroad yard at Trumbo Island. Damage was not extensive, and the engines were quickly repaired.
1976 – The Key West Comparsa performed in the “Florida on Parade” Bicentennial festivities in St. Augustine.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Police Officer Clarence K. Till (seated, right), with his wife, two daughters, and brother, ca. 1900. Gift Till Family. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.