1886 – Fifteen turtles and 11 cattle were being butchered every day in Key West to supply local markets.
1896 – A boat with 60 or 70 filibusterers left Key West before dawn under the command of Perico Torres to aid Cuban rebels. The Revenue Cutter Winona went in pursuit but had little hope of catching the vessel. (Filibuster means a person engaging in unauthorized warfare against a foreign country.)
1921 – Congress approved an $800,000 supplement to complete construction of a submarine base at Key West. The project had already received $1.5 million.
1923 – The 700-ton, four-masted schooner Marie J. Thompson arrived at Key West from Cuba with 50,000 feet of cedar logs for the Key West box factory. The wood was to be made into cigar boxes.
1988 – Key West resident Colonel Floyd J. “Jim” Thompson was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal by President Ronald Reagan. Thompson had been held by the Viet Cong for 3,278 days, the longest P.O.W. detainment in American history.
1994 – The Monroe County Detention Center was receiving additional animal residents, beyond the initial group of ducks rescued from along College Road. Pigs, chickens, geese, and a goat had come into the facility since the beginning of the month, and the place was starting to look like a zoo.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The schooner Marie J. Thompson ca. 1920s. Gift Thompson Family. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.