1861 – Key Wester and Confederate sympathizer Henry Mulrennan flew the flag of the Republic of Florida over his store, which he had dubbed “Fort Davis.” He demanded U.S. troops on the island acknowledge the act as a “declaration of independence of the southern states” and accord him military courtesies.
1869 – Dr. Samuel Mudd arrived at Key West after being released from confinement at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Mudd was imprisoned for having assisted John Wilkes Booth after he killed President Abraham Lincoln.
1873 – Major General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Military Division of the South, arrived from Havana to inspect Army operations and review troops at Key West and the Dry Tortugas.
1908 – Two new customs inspectors were stationed at Knight’s Key, making a total of four inspectors and one deputy collector of customs stationed there. The port had only been opened a few weeks, but traffic between there and Cuba was strong.
1924 – Famed orator and former U.S. congressman and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan arrived at Key West by steamer from Havana. Bryan spoke at Bayview Park as a candidate for the Florida delegation to the Democratic national convention, and he touched on various political matters.
1926 – The Junior Ku Klux Klan burned a cross between 10 and 11 o’clock in the vicinity of the “second Martello tower.” They first attended the Congregational church in regalia and afterward paraded through the town to the site where the cross was erected.
1974 – Monroe County Commissioner Harry Pritchard proposed lowering county density limits from 16 single-family units per acre to 12, and from 25 to 14 for multi-family units as a way of conserving the area’s limited water supply.
1983 – The USS Hercules, sixth of a squadron of fast missile-armed Navy hydrofoil ships based in Key West, was commissioned in a ceremony at Trumbo Point. Admiral Daniel J. Murphy, U.S. Navy retired, Chief of Staff to Vice President George Bush, was the speaker.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Florida East Coast Railway, Key West Extension. The steamer Montauk alongside pier at Knight’s Key. Postcard Monroe County Library Collection. Mailed on July 20, 1909. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.