Valladares & Son newsstand, 1200 Fleming St., Key West
1829 – Charles Hawkins shot William A. McRea, as he walked on Whitehead Street, in the back with both barrels of a shotgun. McRea died two hours later. The two men had fought a duel in February over Hawkins finding McRea leaving his wife’s bedroom via the window. Both men were wounded in the duel. Hawkins was charged with murder, but an impartial jury could not be found and the case was transferred to St Augustine where there was no one to testify against him. The court dismissed the case and Hawkins left for Texas where he became the first Commodore in the new navy of the Country of Texas.
1893 – Cuban leader Jose Marti left on the steamer Mascotte for New York.
1898 – A U.S. Marine Corps Battalion arrived on the USS Panther and established a camp on the ocean end of White Street near the West Martello Tower.
1900 – For the second time in a week, an unknown man attacked women walking on Duval Street by throwing acid on them.
1924 – The all-metal seaplane Morro Castle II, en route from San Juan to its home port in New Jersey, stopped at Key West. Onboard was Key Wester S. Floyd Whalton, mechanic for the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company. Whalton picked up his wife, who had been staying with relatives, so she could fly with him to New Jersey.
1929 – The potential for tomato farming on the Lower Keys was the subject of a meeting of the Key West Chamber of Commerce. All agreed that growing tomatoes could be lucrative but that the area’s inconsistent water supply would be problematic.
1930 – The Shannahan residence on Big Pine Key was destroyed by fire. A drifter who had gotten off the train at Big Pine earlier in the day was suspected of setting the middle-of-the-night blaze.
1953 – The Lower Keys Property Association held a gala “Lights On!” celebration at the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp on Doctor’s Arm, Big Pine Key. Over 400 Keys residents came together to hail the advent of electricity on the island.
1985 – The Secretary of the Navy announced that a new attack submarine being built at Newport News, Virginia would be named “Key West.”
1973 – A half-block area of Conch houses on Charles Street, between Duval and Telegraph Lane, were being converted to a shopping complex to be called “Anchor Mews.”
1980 – The number of Cuban refugees passed 74,000 and a second boat was seized for violating the Presidential ban of trips to Cuba.
1987 – Leonte A. Valladares, owner of Valladares and Sons newsstand, died at age 84.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Valladares & Son newsstand, 1200 Duval St. in 1977. Photo by the Monroe County Property Appraiser. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.