1890 – Key West, with a population of 18,786, was the largest city in Florida. Primary employers were the cigar factories making hand-rolled cigars with Cuban tobacco, which employed over 2,000 workers. The second industry was sponging, in which 100 boats with over 500 men were employed.
1901 – The Key West Board of Aldermen ordered the mayor to appoint a dog catcher to rigidly enforce the leash law.
1908 – After having suffered multiple losses in Havana, Cincinnati Reds Manager Frank Bancroft sent a telegram to Key West announcing his team would not be playing on the island as scheduled. Key Westers had assembled a good team to play the Reds and were disappointed by the cancellation.
1910 – A Monroe County grand jury discharged Sip Linzy of any role in the murders of three people at the Chatham Bend farm of Edgar J. Watson on Lostman’s River in the Everglades. The jury found that Linzy’s actions were involuntary.
1954 – Julias Raab, Chancellor of Austria, paid a short visit to Key West and was met by Mayor C.B. Harvey. The Chancellor and his party drove from Miami, stopping at the Theater of the Sea before arriving for a reception at Fort Taylor Officers Club.
1962 – President John F. Kennedy, Florida Governor Ferris Bryant, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Atlantic Area Commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy arrived in Key West to review the military installations and troops after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1999 – The first Key Lime Festival was celebrated at Key West’s Pier House Resort with a pie contest, an art exhibit, and a short story contest.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: President John F. Kennedy passing the USS Saufley at Naval Station Key West on November 26, 1962. From the Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.