Today in Keys History – July 17, 2024
1861 – Movements between Key West and the mainland were restricted to only those persons under orders of the government.
1954 – Paul Mesa retired from the City Electric System after 46 years. When he started to work there, the electric company was owned by Stone and Webster and had only 400 customers.
1974 – Key West treasure hunter Mel Fisher was employing a psychic in his search for the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha. At the same time, Fisher was testing a new long-range gold detector. “We just want to see if the electronics agree with the psychic,” he said.
1975 – Anthony Quinn and playwright Tennessee Williams met in Key West to discuss the revival of Williams’ play “The Red Devil Battery Sign.”
1986 – The Monroe County Library Board presented Betty Bruce with a special award for her work in establishing the Local and State History Collection in the Key West library (now the Florida Keys History Center). Bruce worked in the library system for 20 years before retiring in 1985.
2014 – Judge Luis Garcia of the 16th Circuit, Monroe County, ruled in favor of Key Westers Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones, who challenged the state of Florida for their right to marry. In overturning the state’s gay marriage ban, Garcia wrote, “It is our country’s proud history to protect the rights of the individual, the rights of the unpopular, and the rights of the powerless, even at the cost of offending the majority.” Florida immediately appealed the ruling.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Betty Bruce and Sylvia Knight in the Florida History Room in the Monroe County Library. Photo published in the Miami Herald August 10, 1976. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.