1866 – Cholera was spreading at Key West, and at least 17 military personnel were down with the disease.
1917 – Dutch tobacco merchant F.C. Boutto was being held at Key West after having arrived from Havana with three cigar workers who were found to be “undesirable aliens.”
1926 – Electrical engineers met to discuss the electrification of the first 55-acre section of the Key West Foundation Company’s 1,000-acre development at the eastern end of Key West, headed by Malcolm Meacham. Overall, Meacham intended to invest $6 million in streets, lighting, and sidewalks for housing development, as well as yacht basins and hotel sites.
1927 – Key West schoolchildren below the age of nine, and all others not immunized, were required to take the toxin/anti-toxin treatment. Dr. M.T. McAvelia, of the State Board of Health, gave the treatments.
1927 – Key West Mayor Leslie Curry and family, missing at sea for four days on their yacht Ha Ha, were found stranded on a sand bar near Big Pine Key. Everyone was fine, and Ha Ha was pulled off the bar safely.
1929 – Malcolm Meacham, 45, financier and developer who owned the eastern end of Key West, jumped to his death from his 11th floor New York apartment window.
1953 – Will R. Porter, 82, one of Key West’s most prominent citizens, died in Miami. His father was Dr. J.Y. Porter, Florida’s first health officer, and he was a grandson of William Curry, Florida’s first millionaire. Porter was the former president of Florida First National Bank and at one time was the largest landowner on the island.
1956 – The Cuban Ferry the City of Havana sailed for the first time from the West India Fruit and Steamship Company’s new terminal in Toppino Harbor on Stock Island.
1993 – A fierce winter storm swept through the Keys uprooting trees, damaging buildings, boats and power lines. The wind reached gusts of 75 m.p.h. at Key West International Airport. The Dry Tortugas reported winds up to 109 mph. The storm also destroyed the “Fat Albert” blimps at United States Air Force Radar Station on Cudjoe Key.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The ferry City of Havana at the pier on Stock Island circa 1960. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.