1513 – Ponce de Leon named the islands at the western end of the Florida Keys Los Tortugas.
1893 – The Daily Gulf Pennant newspaper wrote of Key West, “A very large percentage of its people have no religion at all and are as vile and wicked as the devil wants them to be, there are others who have so much religion it is absolutely making them miserable… We ought to strike a medium ground on this thing.”
1897 – The Key West Wrecking Company, which had been awarded the contract to remove derelict vessels from the harbor, began blowing up the wreck of “the old Marvin.” Work would continue until every part of it was removed.
1923 – Ground was broken for the construction of the new Douglass School.
1938 – Thelma Strabel author of the Reap the Wild Wind brought the property by the Southernmost Point from Marian Kirtland.
1958 – The Mitchell Wolfson Foundation purchased the Audubon House on Whitehead Street.
1994 – Key West City Commissioners approved a three-story, 300-space parking garage for the northern portion of Mallory Square, with entry and exit from Wall Street. Construction costs were estimated at $3.3 million.
2004 – The last of the Key West High School buildings constructed in 1956 at 2100 Flagler Avenue was torn down to make way for a new school and renovated campus.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West High School, 2100 Flagler Avenue, ca. 1960. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.