The Elks Club, 313 Duval St.
1835 – The barque Jean Key, sailing from Havana to Antwerp, wrecked on Conch Reef with 1,812 boxes of sugar, 100,000 cigars and 204 hundredweight of dye wood. Wreckers were able to refloat the vessel and get it to Key West for repair, though it was leaking badly.
1893 – The Cuban community planned to collect $60,000 in Key West during the month to support the revolution in Cuba.
1901 – The Elks Club received 1,559 votes in a contest to determine the most popular organization in Key West. The Key West Library came in second.
1902 – U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cuba and Tomas Estrada Palma was inaugurated as the nation’s first elected president.
1919 – Aviators Augustin Parla and Johnny Green completed the first commercial cargo flight to Cuba when they carried 60 pounds of soap from Key West to Havana in Green’s seaplane “Sunshine.” Despite a fuel leak and five waterspouts, the pair made the crossing in one hour and 47 minutes.
1930 – A group of empty, dilapidated buildings along Division Street (now Truman Avenue) between Simonton and Duval streets were being torn down. As soon as they were gone, the vacant lots committee of the Key West Garden Club would lay out two baseball diamonds.
1956 – Cuban Treasurer General Plutarco Villalobos Marquez presented a bust of Jose Marti to the Key West Art and Historical Society. Mayor C.B. Harvey thanked the Cuban government for the gesture of friendship in both English and Spanish.
1983 – Sister Dolores Wehle, principal of St. Mary Star of the Sea School, left for a new assignment after 18 years. She was the last member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to serve in the school, a tradition that began in 1868.
1995 – The Key West High School varsity baseball team defeated Seminole Osceola 6-4 to win the Class 4A state high school championship.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A color postcard of the Elks Club at 313 Duval Street. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.