1766 – The sloop Catherine from New London was wrecked near Key Largo. The nine people on board made it to land and over the course of two days repaired their boat. Afterward, they set out for Pensacola, minus William Barrett, a butcher from New York, who refused to leave the island.
1849 – The brig Cushnoe came into Key West with four feet of water in its hold. The cargo was removed, and repairs were expected to take three weeks.
1861 – Major William French of the US Army wrote at Key West, “There are 700 persons on the island that have taken the oath of allegiance, and yet I was reliably informed that there are not over 150 true Union men.”
1906 – The dredges Grampas and George W. Allen began filling and expanding land east of the northern end of White Street in Key West for the Overseas Railroad extension.
1923 – The Key West Electric Company had its office at Duval and Grinnell streets and its electric plant at the corner of Fort and Geraldine streets.
1929 – The beautification of the Key West Boulevard was progressing, with many of the projected 1,000 coconut trees lining the road already planted. The work was sponsored by Monroe County.
1930 – Doris V. Long, a Key West school teacher, died from an illegal abortion performed by a doctor in Fort Myers.
1933 – Monroe County voted 1,299 to 85 for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which had outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages.
1953 – In a drastic move to combat the spread of polio the Navy closed all pools, movies, clubs and stopped all social functions. A total of 47 cases of the disease with three deaths had been reported in the county for the year.
1982 – Florida Attorney General Jim Smith filed suit to seize the Gamefish Resort Motel, a 7-acre beachfront resort in Islamorada. The owners were on trial for cocaine trafficking.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Key West Electric Company Plant at Fort and Angela Streets. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.