Louise Maloney Hospital, 532 Fleming St., Key West
1830 – Norman Sherwood killed John Wilson in a fight in a grog shop on Front Street, the first recorded murder in Key West.
1909 – Dr. J.B. Maloney was appointed surgeon for the Florida East Coast Railway, and the company also engaged several beds at the Louise Maloney Hospital for the use of their employees.
1917 – The War Department recommended to Congress that Key West Harbor be improved by the removal of the reef there known as “Middle Ground” at a cost of $232,000.
1934 – Via resolutions made by Florida governor David Sholtz and city and county commissioners, control of Depression-ravaged and bankrupt Key West and Monroe County was transferred to the Federal Emergency Relief Agency’s southeast regional administrator Julius Stone. Stone stated that he was “glad to accept the responsibility of attempting to restore the county and city to prosperity.”
1951 – The Key West Rotary Club was shown a documentary titled “The Fascinating Florida Keys.” The 30-minute color film was produced by the Florida State Advertising Commission to promote tourism to the island chain.
1975 – Coast Guard officers were assigned to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park off Key Largo to help stop rampant coral collecting in the preserve.
1978 – Attorney Jack A. Saunders was named United States Magistrate, United States District Court of Florida.
1983 – Underwater researchers working from Henry Taylor’s vessel Trident found the bell of the English slave ship Henrietta Marie, sunk in 1700.
2013 – A visitor from Maryland complained to Key West police that she had been surreptitiously charged $547 on her credit card for facial cream by a Duval Street cosmetics shop.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Louise Maloney Hospital, 532 Fleming St. circa 1910. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.