Guests at the opening of the Lighthouse Military Museum in Key West in 1966.
1850 – The steamer Creole, carrying General Narciso Lopez and his rebel army fleeing their failed invasion of Spanish Cuba, landed at the port of Key West. The Creole entered port only minutes in front of the Spanish warship Pizarro, which had been chasing her since the invasion. At the dock, Creole raised the U.S. flag, and the Pizarro left without firing.
1893 – The skiff of a man named Cook who worked and lived on the Stock Island farm of W.C. Maloney was found drifting with only his hat inside. The 45-year-old Cook not been heard from for two weeks, and it was presumed he drowned.
1904 – Key West Fire Chief Fulford decried the practice of people in drays and carriages going to watch fires whenever an alarm was sounded. Their presence interfered with the fire wagons.
1911 – Norberg Thompson began work on a building on Caroline Street to be used for the manufacture of cigar boxes. The boxes were used by the local cigar factories.
1924 – Trustees of the Florida Internal Improvement Fund postponed the sale of an island in Key West Harbor after the commandant of the Key West Naval Station claimed ownership on behalf of the U.S. government. The 2.8-acre island was made of deposited material excavated from the ship channel.
1924 – Sea turtle eggs were in demand at Key West, and the price for them was increasing. Scarcity had driven yellow eggs to 75 cents a pound; white eggs were 30 cents a dozen.
1929 – The 56th annual Great Sun Council of the Improved Order of Red Men and Degree of Pocahontas opened at the Strand Theater with officials and delegates from all parts of the state.
1960 – Bobby Harris, of the Key West High School track team, won the first State of Florida High School Pentathlon Championship at a meet in Fort Lauderdale.
1966 – The Lighthouse Military Museum opened in the former lighthouse keeper’s quarters. The museum operated by the Key West Art and Historical Society featured the military history of the island.
1986 – Former Key West Fire Department Chief Joseph “Bum” Farto was declared legally dead in Circuit Court. Farto had disappeared in February 1976, after he was convicted in a drug case.
1995 – Three people were killed when a speed boat rammed a dock near Plantation Key.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Lighthouse Military Museum opens in February 1966. From left Burt Garnett, Lt. Col Helen Kolikowski and Col. John Hall Stokes view exhibits. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.