1823 – The schooner USS Alligator ran aground at “Carysford Reef.” The crew tried for three days to refloat the vessel by jettisoning guns, shot, and ballast. At last, the ship Ann Maria sailed near and offered to take Alligator’s 60 men aboard. With no hope of saving the schooner, the Alligator crew set fire to their vessel, and soon after it blew up.
1861 – The U.S. steamer Connecticut brought the captured Bahamian schooner Adelaide into Key West. Adelaide was carrying coffee, lead, and arms to Savannah to supply Confederate forces. A Lieutenant Hardee of the Confederate army was onboard as supercargo, and he was taken to Fort Taylor as a prisoner.
1861 – The USS Wm. G. Anderson arrived at Key West with the captured Confederate privateer schooner Beauregard as a prize. The 27 men on board the Beauregard were placed in the Monroe County jail.
1924 – The cornerstone of the new St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Key West was laid by the Reverend Cameron Mann, bishop of Episcopal Diocese of South Florida.
1952 – Monroe County became the owner of the Key West International Airport when the deed of sale was filed. The County paid Key West Improvement, Inc., $150,000 for the property. The deed had a restriction that should the property ever be used for anything other than a public airport the property would revert to Key West Improvement.
1957 – Thirty-one men were arrested, and the 33-foot motor vessel Philomar III loaded with small arms, ammunition, knives, uniforms, boots, and machetes was seized at a dock on Piney Point at the southern end of Big Pine Key. The men and supplies were headed for Cuba to support Fidel Castro’s rebel forces.
1980 – Key West City Manager Bob Sanders resigned after 10 weeks on the job. Sanders was frustrated with the city’s financial condition and said he “could not be part of a government that refuses to apply a legal remedy to making itself fiscally sound.”
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 807 Center St., built 1924, ca.1965. Tract 4, Sqr 5, Pt Lot 1. Photo taken by the Property Appraiser’s office. Monroe County Library Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center