1830 – The sloop Sarah Isabella, owned by Capt. Jacob Housman, was struck twice by lightning at Indian Key; the topmast and mainmast were damaged. Two hawks flying over at the same time were struck dead.
1835 – The packet steamer Dolphin advertised the following passenger fares: St. Augustine to Key West, $20; Key West to Havana, $15; and Key West to Charleston, $30.
1899 – Key West had recorded 172 cases and 12 deaths in the recent yellow fever outbreak.
1908 – Jerome B. Pinder was building an addition to the Sportsmen’s Resort at Matecumbe that would include a 156-foot veranda.
1917 – The Key West City Council resolved to purchase a second motorized fire apparatus from the La France Fire Engine Company. The motor vehicles would replace the horse-drawn steam engines in use at the time and modernize the fire department.
1921– Two Key West soldiers, Pvt. Arthur B. Sawyer and Pvt. Charles Knowles, killed on the battlefields of France, were buried. Nearly the whole island turned out for the funeral procession and accompanied the dead heroes to the city cemetery.
1946 – In a special meeting, the Key West City Commission passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of the beach property at the south end of Duval Street. The purchase price was $37,000.
1951 – The 1,000-unit Navy housing project being built on Dredger’s Key was named Sigsbee Park for the late Admiral Charles Sigsbee, who was Commanding Officer of the Battleship Maine when it was destroyed in Havana Harbor in 1898. The Navy Housing project at the old Army Barracks was named Peary Court for Robert E. Peary, who was stationed in Key West in the 1880s, and later was the first man to go to the North Pole.
1960 – President Eisenhower declared the Middle Keys a major disaster area because of damage from Hurricane Donna.
1968 – Work began on the 800-foot jetty that would provide protection to boats tied up in Key West Bight. The contractor was also hired to dredge a turning basin behind the breakwater. The fill from the dredging would be used to fill city property between Simonton and Duval streets.
1982 – Former Key West Citizen Reporter and Lower Keys Historian Pat Parks died in California. For 17 years her column appeared three times a week and concentrated on local history and environmental topics.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The firemen and equipment from Key West Fire Station No, 2 behind the County Courthouse in 1915. Gift City Electric System. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.