Abe Sawyer, circa 1900
1823 – A hospital, Marine barracks, and two public storehouses had been completed at Thompson’s Island [Key West]. Commodore David Porter was about to erect a building for his own accommodation, and preparations were being made for other private residences.
1907 – The bridge to Lower Matecumbe Key was completed and the first train crossed to the island.
1921 – Two detachments of Coast Artillerymen arrived at Key West via train from Forts Barrancas and Morgan to strengthen the garrison on the island.
1923 – An unrecognized airplane circled over Key West multiple times and at such high altitude it could barely be seen. Officials at the Naval Station and Aeromarine Airways had no knowledge of what it was doing.
1939 – Key Wester “General” Abraham Sawyer died at age 77. Sawyer was born on a boat sailing from Spanish Wells in the Bahamas to Key West and became famous for being 40 inches tall and weighing 40 pounds. He refused to appear in carnivals and sideshows but often worked for manufacturers to advertise their products. Sawyer was also very active in his church.
1960 – Carrier Anti-Submarine Air Group 50 was commissioned in the main hangar at Trumbo Point.
1966 – A controversial situation arose when four Peace Corps trainees from Micronesia were denied service at two different Key West barbershops. To alleviate the apparent discrimination, Mayor Kermit Lewin found seven barbershops near the men’s hotel that agreed to seat anyone who walked in.
1970 – Key West-based Destroyer Division 601 was disestablished and the ships were transferred to Destroyer Squadron 18, which moved to Key West.
1981 – Large sponge beds were found in shallow waters between Marathon and Big Pine Key, renewing hope that harvesting sponge might be a commercially viable Florida Keys industry again. Sponges in the Keys had been decimated by blight in the 1930s and ’40s.
1981 – U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles dedicated the reconditioned cutters Ute and Lipan in ceremonies at the Coast Guard Station Key West.
2008 – Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer published a set of campaign guidelines to help eliminate increasingly negative campaigning. It urged candidates to keep criticisms to legitimate challenges, abstain from appealing to prejudice, and not lie or use innuendo when talking about an opponent.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: “General” Abe Sawyer C 1900. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.