1853 – Capt. J.M. Scarritt of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was in charge the construction of Fort Taylor in Key West Harbor. It was said of the work, “the masonry has risen twelve feet above the high water mark, and it is so far complete as to be out of reach of the waves.”
1948 – President Harry Truman arrived for a vacation and was greeted by a crowd of 25,000 that lined his route from Boca Chica to the Little White House.
1949 – Louis M.J. Eisner and John Carbonell were elected to four-year terms on the Key West City Commission and C.B. Harvey was elected to a two-year term. Eisner, by leading the ticket, was elected mayor by the commission.
1951 – President Harry Truman arrived for his tenth working vacation at the Little White House.
1954 – The 38th case of polio for the year was reported. A Navy man was admitted with the paralytic form of the disease. Of the cases reported for the year, 28 were Navy Personnel or dependents.
1964 – A 275-acre tract of land with two miles of waterfront on Big Torch Key was purchased by developers Richard Jaffe and Edward Ball from the Rimersburg Coal Company.
1966 – John Spottswood was re-elected state senator.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A view of Fort Taylor under construction, 1850s. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.