1831 – Wm. A. Whitehead, Collector of Customs at Key West, reported to Washington about Cuban fishing camps at Charlotte Harbor in mainland Monroe County. He stated there were approximately 250 residents, many of whom had lived there since Spanish rule, who sold their catch to the Havana market.
1850 – The British ship Erin-go-Bragh, sailing from New Orleans to Liverpool with 2,001 bales of cotton, ran onto the Dry Rocks near the Sand Key lightship. Eleven wrecking vessels were on hand to help get the ship off, but the captain refused assistance.
1929 – Miss Lena Johnson, the first woman elected to the Key West City Commission, was defeated in her re-election bid by 40 votes.
1932 – An anonymous benefactress donated new, eight-tube radios to lighthouse staff at Sand Key and Dry Tortugas. The same donor had given radios to Carysfort Reef, Alligator Reef, Sombrero Key, and American Shoals lightkeepers the year before.
1961 – Mr. and Mrs. Jack Daniel purchased the home of the late author Ernest Hemingway for a reported $30,000.
2011 – At a meeting in Key Largo, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a ban on the harvest of tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead sharks from Florida waters.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Seated Lena Johnson, Key West city commissioner 1927-1929. Standing, her sister, May Johnson Douglas. Monroe County Library Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center