1914 – The Key West Harbor Master was J.R. Curry Sr. The Board of Pilot Commissioners (appointed by the Governor) were G.A.T. Roberts, president, W.D. Cash, vice president, C.C. Curtis, secretary-treasurer, C.H.J. Roberts, member, and C.L. Roberts, member.
1965 – Townsend Morgan, 81, died in Englewood, Florida. During the Great Depression he was one of the artists sent to Key West by the WPA (Works Progress Administration). He became the first director of the Key West Art Center.
1976 – The Bicentennial musical “Cayo Hueso ‘76” opened at the Waterfront Playhouse. The play gave a colorful history of the island, and it was written by Jim Russell with historical research by Betty Bruce and Peggy Murphree.
1989 – Key West businessman William Irby proposed to local officials the idea of a floating Monroe County Jail made from surplus oil industry housing barges. Irby said his facility would be much cheaper than the estimated $95 million to build a land-based jail and would have a small environmental impact.
1999 – The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the renaming of Big Basin, on the north side of Islamorada, to Barley Basin in honor of Florida Bay and Everglades environmentalist George Barley, who had been killed in a plane crash in 1995.
2004 – Monroe County was considering a 90-day closure of Higgs Beach Park to force homeless encampments out of the area and give county officials time to write and implement a “no camping” law.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The 1976 Bicentennial play “Cayo Hueso ‘76” at the Waterfront Playhouse. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.