1909 – The Monroe County Commission approved a contract with E.T. Crittendon to install a sewer line running from the courthouse to the sea for $575.
1911 – The Key West Box Factory opened at the corner of Caroline and William streets. The building was 86 x 120 feet and built of reinforced concrete and “as near storm proof as it is possible to make it.” It would be able to produce up to 7,000 boxes a day for local cigar manufacturers.
1954 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez continued a crackdown on vice in the city by personally conducting a raid of the Mardi Gras Club on Duval Street. Three women were arrested and charged with “participating in a performance of an indecent and immoral nature.” The club manager was arrested, too.
1955 – A Key West motel price war reached new heights when eight motels posted signs offering free rooms to tourists.
1994 – A helicopter with Biscayne Aeromed, which had recently opened a branch at the Marathon airport, flew a patient to a mainland hospital from a Keys-based aircraft for the first time ever. Biscayne Aeromed had long served Monroe County’s need for emergency flights, but only from Miami.
1999 – The International Conference of Gay and Lesbian Criminal Justice Professionals named the Key West Police Department as the second best in the nation, only behind Boston’s, for its positive attitude towards gay and lesbian criminal justice professionals.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Key West Box Factory at Caroline and William streets in October of 1944, after a hurricane. Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.