Today in Keys History – March 26, 2024
1861 – Lt. T.A.M. Craven of the USS Crusader said of Key West, “Nearly all of the offices of this town are now filled by violent disunionists. The Collector of the port, his inspector, the surgeon of the Marine Hospital, the postmaster, and the lighthouse keeper are among the most mischievous people here.”
1885 – The 1885 Florida State Census listed the population of Key West as 13,558. The birthplaces of the people in the census were Key West/Florida 43 %, Cuba 33% and Bahamas 24%. The census reported a total work force of 4,895. The largest number of those employed, 2,035, worked in the cigar industry. The next occupation was seaman, followed by washwomen 542, laborers 283 and carpenters 195.
1946 – Two Navy ensigns and one crewman were killed when their planes collided in mid-air near the Sombrero Key lighthouse. They were part of a group of six torpedo planes participating in training exercises, when one plane cut off the tail of another, and both went into the water.
1961 – President John Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan met in Key West to discuss an increasingly serious and worrisome communist expansion into Southeast Asia.
1994 – Former Key West resident Charles A. Allen Jr. was memorialized when the Fort Polk Library was named the First Sergeant Charles A. Allen Jr. Library. Allen graduated from Key West High School and joined the Army in 1966. He was medically retired in 1984 and died in 1985.
2000 – Under a new water-quality testing program, most Keys beaches were given “good” to “moderate” designations, but health advisories were issued for Smathers and South Beaches in Key West because of their high fecal coliform levels.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at the Little White House in Key West on March 26, 1961. U.S. Navy photo. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.