Former President Harry Truman and Admiral Lloyd M. Mustin in front of Naval Headquarters in 1960.
1884 – Forty-year-old Carlos Recio was hanged at Key West. Recio had been sentenced to die for the murder of Valentin Uri, the result of an argument over a game of cards. Over 4,000 people watched the execution, which took place in the northeast corner of Jackson Square.
1923 – The tug Liberty arrived at Key West, towing a 45,000-pound “Rhynodon” (whale shark) harpooned four days earlier by Capt. Newton Knowles near Long Key. The New York Aquarium was preparing to handle the fish.
1929 – V.D.L. Robinson of the American Automobile Association announced before a meeting of the Monroe County Commission that the Atlantic Coastal Highway was complete from Key West to the Canadian border, a paved road of 2,381 miles.
1949 – Monroe County Commissioners urged the owner of “Dirty Dick’s” bar on County Road to change the name of the establishment or move the establishment’s sign away from the highway.
1959 – Rear Admiral Lloyd M. Mustin assumed command of Naval Station Key West, relieving Rear Admiral Francis D. McCorkle.
1959 – Key West High School baseball star Boog Powell signed a contract to play professional baseball for the Baltimore Orioles.
1993 – The U.S. Navy Hydrofoil Squadron sailed from Key West for the last time.
1995 – The fifth branch of the Monroe County Public Library system opened with a ribbon-cutting at the Big Pine Library.
2000 – A study of Florida Keys canals revealed viruses in the water that could make people sick. One canal in Lower Matecumbe Key contained echoviruses and live enteroviruses, including polio and coxsackie A&B.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Former President Truman and Admiral Lloyd M. Mustin in front of Naval Headquaters on February 25, 1960. U.S. Navy photo by Kay Behar. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.