1857 – Key West was struck in multiple places during an intense lightning storm. The hospital at Fort Taylor was hit, and the north end of the building was destroyed. It also caught on fire, but heavy rain soon doused the flames.
1857 – The schooner D.P. Trowbridge, from Minatitlán, put into Key West after the captain became too sick to command the vessel. Captain Parks of Key West was hired to sail the Trowbridge to New York.
1917 – The Secretary of the Treasury ordered the Key West Marine Hospital to provide civilians with free vaccinations against smallpox, typhoid fever, and paratyphoid, to help prevent the spread of the diseases to military personnel.
1950 – Hurricane Easy passed to the west of Key West where the maximum winds of 72 mph were recorded.
1952 – The City of Key West became owner of Mallory Dock when Mayor C.B. Harvey presented a check for $25,000 to Gulf Atlantic Transportation Company.
1953 – An old shipwreck was uncovered 400 feet offshore from Marathon. A dredge operating in submerged oceanside land owned by Chet Tingler brought up buried planks, ribs, iron spikes, and other metal parts from 5 feet of water.
1953 – The Secretary of the Navy issued reprimands to Rear Admiral Irving T. Duke, former Commander Naval Base Key West, and Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Berry, former legal officer, for their mishandling of the investigation into the Charity Carnival stag show that turned into a sexual orgy.
1960 – Keys residents auditioned for parts in the movie “All Fall Down,” a portion of which was being filmed in Key West.
1974 – Don Keith, publisher of the Key West Citizen, announced that the Morris organization had sold the paper to Thomson Newspapers, Inc., which assumed immediate control of the organization.
1979 – Florida State Marine Archaeologist Sonny Cockrell planned to create an artificial shipwreck site in the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary by using cannons and other items from sites found elsewhere in Florida.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Mallory Dock before it was rebuilt circa 1950. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.