1829 – During a gale, the British ship Britannia, carrying rum, sugar, coffee, pimento, fustic and hides from Jamaica, wrecked on Conch Reef. Capt. Jacob Housman went out and found the vessel taking on 32 inches of water an hour. Three other wrecking vessels arrived and began removing cargo.
1838 – The brig Hebrus, sailing from Havana to England with sugar and coffee, ran ashore on Pickles Reef. The vessel was bilged, but wreckers removed a minor portion of the sugar and all the coffee.
1858 – As the summer yellow fever season approached, 80 mechanics and laborers left Forts Taylor and Jefferson for the north. “All the unacclimated are to be discharged, and a small number of native or acclimated whites and the usual slave force retained,” it was noted.
1860 – The 37-member Max Maretzek opera company performed in the Wall & Pinckney warehouse in Key West. It was the first time the building had been used for such a purpose, and an attendee wrote the building was “equally adapted to the wants of music and commerce.”
1924 – The Ukrainian National Chorus performed at Monroe County High School on White Street. The members had been vacationing in Key West for many days and were pleased to entertain the community as a way of repaying the great kindness they had found on the island.
1933 – Edmund H. Harvey was building a fishing lodge that was known as “Sombrero Lodge” on the 51 acres he owned on Key Vaca.
1953 – City Electric’s power line to Big Pine Key was energized to bring commercial power to the Lower Keys for the first time.
1974 – Douglass Elementary School in Key West was recognized for its outstanding citizenship program by the Florida Elementary School Principals’ Association with one of 10 “Little Red Schoolhouse” awards.
1986 – Coast Guardsmen noticed a column of smoke coming from the lobster boat Vionarika two miles south of the Marquesas Keys. They approached and boarded the vessel as part of a search-and-rescue mission and found 5,000 pounds of marijuana on board. The smoke was from oil dripping onto the motor.
2009 – The City of Key West was facing a $1.75 million revenue shortfall, and commissioners debated ways to save money, including staff cuts, closing the city pool and charging fees for things that had previously been free.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Aerial of the Douglass School Complex C 1980. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.