1839 – President Martin Van Buren recognized Joseph Beverly Browne as Consul for Texas at Key West.
1876 – St. James Missionary Baptist Church was founded by Reverend McIntosh and others who settled in Key West from areas of the South.
1910 – Bicycle races on County Road (Flagler Avenue) drew a large crowd. Multiple quarter-mile and half-mile races were held for different age groups, and the event was capped off by a four-and-a-half-mile endurance race, which Johnny Quinn won in 17 minutes and 16 seconds.
1945 – The 1945 Florida State Census showed the population of Monroe County was 18,718, of which 17,774 lived in Key West.
1945 – Radio station WKWF began its first broadcasts by issuing hurricane warnings every 15 minutes, with owner John Spottswood as the announcer.
1988 – The Little Palm Island luxury resort on Munson Island off Ramrod Key opened for business.
1994 – The Environmental Protection Agency set aside $250,000 for water quality projects in Florida Bay. Critics said the money was an acknowledgment of problems but was not enough to fund adequate research into why the bay’s sea grasses were dying, and algae was blooming.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Aerial view of Munson Island (Little Palm Island) in June 1970. Photo by Raymond L. Blazevic. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.