1899 – Annie Fay, a White woman, and Will Harrison, a Black man, were convicted in the criminal court at Key West for having married. She was sentenced to five years in the state penitentiary, and he received a one-year term.
1923 – A team of seven Key Westers went to Sand Key to begin installation of a $25,000 automatic control for the lighthouse. The new system would reduce the light’s staff from three keepers to one.
1932 – Fifteen alien immigrants were found trying to illegally enter the U.S. at Lower Matecumbe Key. The group had left the day before from Cardenas, Cuba, in a small motor vessel. They were taken to Homestead and jailed.
1951 – Teddy the dog on the sight-seeing bus died. Teddy was the nationally known 15-year-old dog that rode on top of Ramon Navarro’s sight-seeing bus. He had been featured in countless magazines and newspaper articles.
1998 – Key West’s San Carlos Institute gained prominence by becoming an associate of the Smithsonian Institution.
2008 – The Key West Innkeepers Association filed a lawsuit against a William Street guesthouse for its copyrighted name “Key West Bed and Breakfast,” arguing it was a generic phrase that did not meet copyright standards.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Ray Navarro’s sightseeing car with Teddy the dog on top. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Library Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center