1886 – At 10 o’clock in the morning, a fire started near the San Carlos Theater in Key West. Over the next 12 hours, it consumed over 50 acres of the island city’s commercial district. Seven people were killed and 15 injured. Damages were estimated at $2 million.
1907 – George R. Billberry, lightkeeper at Loggerhead Key lighthouse and a 50-year veteran of the lighthouse service, died after collapsing on duty. A Navy boat with a doctor onboard initially rushed to the Dry Tortugas to offer aid, but instead it returned with Bilberry’s body. He was buried in the Key West Cemetery.
1950 – Mayor William and Elizabeth O’Dwyer of New York City arrived for their annual visit to the Key Largo Angler’s Club.
1979 – The U.S. Army announced that the First Battalion of the 65th Air Defense Artillery would leave Key West during the next fiscal year. The unit had 740 military and 10 civilian personnel in Key West. The Air Defense Artillery came to Key West during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962.
2000 – The Bahama Village Business Association and the Neighborhood Improvement Association, groups that had battled for Control of the island’s Goombay Festival, agreed to work together to plan and promote the annual street fair.
2009 – The Nature Conservancy established a 25-member team to investigate reports of invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Keys. At least a dozen pythons had been captured in the Keys over the previous two years, primarily in the Key Largo area.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West after the fire of March 30, 1886. View looking east from the cupola of the Government building. The building standing center right is 133 Duval Street. The DeWolfe & Wood Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.