1823 – The port of Mobile reported that 14,900 feet of sawed lumber had been exported to Key West from there in the year ending September 30, 1822.
1906 – In reponse to reports that Greek divers were destroying the sponge beds, Governor N.B. Broward wrote the sheriffs of Monroe, Lee, Hillsborough and Levy counties instructing them to enforce Florida’s law which prohibited taking of sponges by dredges or diving.
1967 – The Navy reported that the military personnel and dependents in Key West totaled 18,953. The military also employed an additional 2,006 civilian workers.
1974 – Key West police arrested 18 men and three women for sleeping in public and trespassing after they were found camping in a brushy, wooded area near Rest Beach along Atlantic Boulevard.
1976 – Suspended Fire Chief Joseph “Bum” Farto; convicted in February on drug charges, was reported missing by his wife. He had left town in a rental car that was found in Miami but no trace was ever found of Farto.
1986 – The Key West City Commission unanimously approved a plan for the construction of a $25.2 million sewage treatment plant to be located on a 10-acre site leased from the Navy on Fleming Key.
1995 – Arts for the Parks, a national competition sponsored by the National Park Foundation, chose a painting of Fort Jefferson by Key West native George Carey to become part of the exhibition that toured the country.
2000 – Some residents of Geiger Key complained the area was “going to hell,” saying the pub, grill, and marina complex there was attracting irresponsible people. They claimed drunkenness, fights, garbage, and the dumping of raw sewage were making the quiet, sparsely settled neighborhood “like Duval Street.”
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Key West sewage treatment plant on Fleming Key, ca. 1990. Photo by Ray Blazevic. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.