The Post Office Inn at 321 Simonton Street in the 1960s.
1832 – John James Audubon arrived at Key West from the Dry Tortugas with specimens of terns, shells, conchs, and coral. He claimed to have discovered five new species of birds in this voyage through the Keys: One of the genus Ardea, two of Columba, and two of Sterna.
1854 – John Simonton, the first American owner of the island of Key West, died in Washington, DC.
1930 – The preliminary census figures for the county showed 13,118. The Chamber of Commerce claimed the figures were considerably below the real total.
1941 – Paramount photographers who had been in town shooting scenes for the movie “Reap the Wild Wind” left for Hollywood.
1947 – Baseball’s legendary home-run king Babe Ruth, who was recovering from neck surgery, arrived at Marathon for a recuperative tarpon fishing getaway.
1947 – Work started on building a camp for Boy Scouts on a seven-acre tract on West Summerland Key.
1957 – Key West Mayor C.B. Harvey cut the ribbon to open the new Food Fair supermarket at 2506 North Roosevelt Boulevard.
1961 – Thirteenth Street in Key West was changed to Kennedy Drive and Fifth Street was changed to Macmillan Drive commemorating the meeting of President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Key West.
1972 – The Post Office Inn building at 321 Simonton St. in Key West was torn down after having been gutted by fire two weeks earlier.
1973 – The Ocean Reef Club was given permission by the Florida governor and cabinet to dredge a mangrove lagoon for residential development in exchange for the donation of 700 acres of Upper Key Largo wilderness land to the state.
1983 – Florence Rabon, former newspaper reporter and civic leader, died at the age of 76. For 20 years she was the Key West feature and social columnist for the Miami Herald.
1985 – The Salvation Army held a groundbreaking for their facilities on Flagler Avenue.
1985 – The La Concha Hotel was sold for $2.3 million. The land was not included in the sale and was to be leased for $100,000 annually.
1986 – The Key West City Commission, by failing to take any action on several proposals, lost the right to buy Truman Annex, which was later sold at public auction by the General Services Administration.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Post Office Inn, 321 Simonton St.; razed about 1973. Photo taken by Monroe County Property Appraiser’s office circa 1965. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.