1746 – The English privateer Fame was at the Florida Keys to procure wood and water when it was struck by a hurricane. To save the ship, the guns were thrown overboard, and the masts cut down. After the gale abated, the crew fashioned jury masts and sails and made their way to Charleston.
1899 – There were 30 new cases of yellow fever at Key West, along with two new deaths. A tabulation of daily reports for the recent outbreak showed 920 cases and 42 deaths. There was hope that “the fever has about exhausted its material, and the future reports will show a rapid diminution, until the plague dies out entirely.”
1910 – The body of General Francisco Vicente Aguilera, who had died in New York in 1877, arrived at Key West on the Cuban revenue cutter Yara. He was given full military honors by the Naval Station and a memorial at the San Carlos. After the services, the remains were taken to Cuba for burial in his hometown of Bayamo. The General was a hero of the 1868 revolt led by Manuel Carlos de Cespedes.
1918 – The steamer Lake City, traveling from Tampa to Baltimore, collided with the steamer James McGee five miles from American Shoals lighthouse. The Lake City sank in two minutes, and 30 of the 35 crew were lost.
1922 – Too many students had enrolled in Monroe County schools, forcing the district to open four new primary grade classes in the Key West Armory Building at the corner of White and Southard streets.
1923 – Someone blew up a large rock on the Simonton Street grounds of the old Masonic Lodge and then removed another to dig a hole. It was rumored that the perpetrator had a map indicating a treasure hoard was buried there.
1934 – A floating air station formerly used by Pan-American Airways in Miami Harbor was towed to Key West and berthed at the railroad terminal at Trumbo Point. It was consigned to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, spurring rumors it was going to be used for a new airline service.
1960 – Prominent Islamorada realtor Buck Grundy, who had been carried 2.5 miles in the surge waters of Hurricane Donna, spent nine hours in the water and lost his wife and his home to the storm, said from his Monroe General Hospital bed that he planned to start anew in Key West.
1974 – Circuit Judge M. Ignatius Lester ruled that the Key West city clerk must proceed with certifying signatures on the petitions to put two anti-high-rise issues on the ballot.
1989 – In the Key West city elections, incumbent City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley was re-elected. The other two winners were John Robinson and Marty Arnold for the Utility Board. All other candidates faced a run-off election.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Damage by Hurricane Donna of Islamorada Moose Lodge, September 1960. Photo by Bernard M. (Buzz) Cooper and his daughter Doris V. Cooper. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.