1893 – Key West had no ice. “The ice famine is raging, and if the vessel laden with ice does not arrive soon, the inhabitants of this city will be put to much trouble and inconvenience. Now is the time Key West feels the need of an ice factory,” wrote the Daily Equator-Democrat newspaper.
1915 – Famous Cuban chess player José Raúl Capablanca stopped in Key West after having defeated the U.S. chess champion and was “taking along with him some hard American coin as the result of the meet.”
1943 – Memorial services were held at the Fleming Street Methodist Church for Frank L. Spencer, the first Key West inductee to die in World War II. He had been killed in North Africa on April 23.
1953 – Work began on a $2 million sewer service expansion project that would give Key West one of the most modern sewer systems in the nation.
1991 – The Kmart corporation announced that an 80,400-square-foot Kmart discount department store was planned for 2928 North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West.
1994 – The Key West Shipwreck Historeum opened its doors. The Mallory Square museum featured exhibits on the history of wrecking in the Florida Keys and a 65-foot-tall wooden observation tower.
2004 – Dozens of people gathered at Fort Taylor State Park in Key West to protest the park manager’s plan to remove invasive Australian pine trees from the beachfront and replace them with native vegetation.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Grant City Store at 2928 North Roosevelt Blvd., 1970s. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.