1837 – A woman testified in a Philadelphia court that a sailor named Mitchell had come to her house and told her husband he had buried $1 million near Key West “during the last war.” He convinced the husband and five other men to each give him $200 to organize an expedition to recover it.
1886 – The steamer Lizzie Henderson began regular shipping service between Key West and The Bahamas.
1923 – The United States Quarantine Station used the derelict lighthouse tender Wisteria, grounded in Key West Harbor, as a disinfecting station. Acting Assistant Surgeon J.Y. Porter Jr. was in charge.
1932 – Thirty-four women were sewing clothing for Key West’s poor and unemployed from material donated by the Red Cross. The group was operating from the Woman’s Club section of the Key West public library.
1945 – Key West radio station WKWF went on air permanently at 7 a.m. It was scheduled to operate 17 hours a day, seven days a week.
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 the mainland to Key West.
1965 – More than 400 Cuban refugees arrived in Key West, bringing the total in recent days to nearly 2,000. Havana radio reported that more than 200 boats were at Camarioca and Varadero, waiting to leave.
1979 – The first Fantasy Fest parade, consisting 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.
2007 – The City of Marathon took the first steps toward installing a central sewer system by beginning to install lines along Sombrero Beach Road and the adjacent side streets.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The lighthouse tender Wisteria in Key West. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.