1830 – William Hackley recorded in his diary: Rose before dawn and read the Acts. After breakfast cleaned the brass on my gun case with lime juice and salt they had been burned black by the bilge water on the way out which was removed instantaneously by the mixture. The other part of the house I occupy has been rented by a Mrs. Bills who has with her, her mother and child. I immediately went down and spoke to Colonel Oliver O’Hara as he is about renting a house to let me have a room in it which he has promised to do. I felt quite unwell all morning until I took a dose of Rhubarb Wine which made me feel much better. Read Hammond. Colonel Oliver O’Hara and Captain John Jackson of the Revenue Cutter Marion dined with us today. After dinner read a portion of Dugald Stewart’s philosophy which I commenced two mornings hence. There was a dance at the house tonight and as I do not partake of such amusements at this place I sat in my room reading until I went to bed. They kept the fiddle a going until two this morning. The wind still to the northeast and blowing fresh. Weather clear and pleasant.
1900 – At the annual meeting of the Key West Fire Department the following officers were elected: H.G. Fulford, chief; S.J. Wolf, first assistant chief; Phil Henson, second assistant chief; Ernest Higgs, secretary and C.F. Albury, treasurer.
1911 – Rear Admiral Lucien Young arrived and took command of the Key West Naval Base.
1923 – The United States Quarantine Station used the barge Wisteria anchored in the harbor for a disinfecting station. Acting Assistant Surgeon J.Y. Porter Jr. was in charge.
1953 – Monroe County voters by a 6 to 1 majority defeated a bond issue for $14 million that would have been used to build a second water pipeline from Key West to the mainland.
1962 – As part of the military build-up for the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Army leased Wickers Field from the city for $1 a year.
1979 – The first Fantasy Fest parade of 26 floats marched down Duval Street before a crowd estimated at 10,000. The winning float was “Bride of Dracula” sponsored by Fast Buck Freddie’s.
1983 – Governor Bob Graham appointed Danny L. Kolhage Clerk of Court to fill the unexpired term of Ralph White, who resigned to return to the banking business.
1998 – Former President George H. W. Bush was in the Keys for the fifth annual George Bush Cheeca Lodge Bonefish Tournament.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library
Image: Members of the Key West Fire Department standing in front of Station 1 on Ann Street circa 1900. Photo by E.W. Jackson, Dewey Riggs Collection, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/12702463353