1858 – Sombrero Key Lighthouse was first lighted.
1865 – The Key West Literary Association honored Major Benjamin C. Lincoln, commander of the Second Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops, who was killed in battle on mainland Florida. Lincoln and his men were based out of Key West, and he had been president of the association.
1911 – Ground was broken for the First Church of Christ Scientists on the corner of Division and Georgia streets.
1941 – Grant Wood, the American artist famous for his painting “American Gothic,” gave a lecture at the Key West High School auditorium. The event was a benefit for the Key West Art Center and the Woman’s Club Library Building Fund.
1996 – Five people were killed and one critically injured when a seaplane crashed upon take-off from the Sigsbee Basin off North Roosevelt. The lone survivor was a 10-year-old boy.
2000 – The Key West Police Department’s new K-9 corps made an impressive debut when drug-sniffing dogs Rocky and Trapper located $89,000 in alleged drug money. “The dogs paid for themselves and all their training in their first day on the job,” said Cynthia Edwards, police spokesperson.
2014 – Wisteria Island erupted in flames; the cause was suspected to be arson instigated by an altercation between two people living on the island.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A notice for the Grant Wood lecture in Key West in March 1941. From the Otto Hirzel scrapbook in the DeWolfe and Wood Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.