1862 – Rear-Admiral J.L. Gardiner, Commander of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, ordered the USS Dacotah to cruise an area ranging from Key West to the coast of Cuba, Bahia Honda, and the Dry Tortugas, with permission to go to Havana for communication and supplies.
1886 – The Jacksonville Times-Union newspaper said, “the present population of Key West is about twenty thousand inhabitants and increasing at the rate of one hundred per week by new arrivals from Cuba and other parts of the Union.”
1951 – Mrs. Pauline Hemingway died after a brief illness while visiting California. She had been a resident of Key West since 1927 when she arrived with her ex-husband, writer Ernest Hemingway.
1952 – Admiral Irving Duke drove the first stake to begin construction of the three new buildings for the Fleet Sonar School on the south part of the Naval Station near the beach.
1969 – Long Key State Park opened near Layton. It encompassed 291 acres and had a 60-site campground.
1993 – Naval Aircraft Squadron VAQ-33 was decommissioned at the Naval Air Station Key West. VAQ 33 had been the largest squadron in Key West.
1994 – Willie Ward, longtime civil rights and community leader, died at the age of 70.
2013 – Voters resoundingly said “no” – 76% to 24% – to a ballot question asking whether the city of Key West should authorize a study on the impacts of dredging the Main Ship Channel to accommodate larger cruise ships.
2014 – Stock Island’s popular Rusty Anchor restaurant was listed for sale for $2.5 million.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Heart Fund Drive C 1965. Third from left is Dr. H.K. Moore and far right, Willie Ward and Larry Rogers. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.