1622 – Three large galleons, along with other ships from Spain’s Tierra Firme fleet, were wrecked from the Marquesas Keys to the Dry Tortugas after having been struck by a hurricane only one day out of Havana. Hundreds of lives and millions of pesos of treasure were lost in the disaster.
1906 – The Key West City Directory listed 40 cigar factories with more than 2,000 employees.
1906 – Burglaries were rampant in Key West, with new reports of break-ins coming every day. The island’s Chinese laundries had been hit particularly hard.
1915 – The first annual Florida state meet of the Amateur Athletic Union was held in Key West, with a wide range of track and field events being staged. The highlight was the 880-yard inter-city relay, which was won by Key Westers Whitney Papy, Joe Otto, Hastings Roberts, and W.N. Baldwin.
1988 – Mike Warren, a 26-year veteran of the Monroe County Mosquito Control District, won re-election. Harry Knight was unopposed for tax collector. Other winners were: Richard Payne, circuit court judge; J. Jefferson Overby, circuit court judge and Wayne Miller, county judge.
1999 – Five years after the vessel Columbus Iselin ran aground at Looe Key, repairs to the reef appeared to be working. Transplanted corals and other marine life were taking well to recently installed limestone and cement patches to the damaged substrate.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Horse-drawn trolley on Division Street (Truman Avenue) at the corner of Frances Street, ca. 1890. On Wo Chinese Laundry at right. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.