Today in Keys History – May 30, 2023
1830 – The brig Mary, sailing from New Orleans to New York with 180 hogsheads of molasses, was driven onto Mosquito Shoal near Tavernier Key in heavy weather. Wreckers removed the cargo and got the Mary off the reef. In Key West, no judge was available to hear the case, so $1,000 was awarded to the salvors through arbitration.
1902 – Movie star “Stepin Fetchit” was born in Key West as Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry.
1923 – The cornerstone was laid for the new Monroe County High School on White Street in Key West. An address was given for the occasion by Charles H. Ketchum, Past Grandmaster of the Masonic Order in Florida.
1929 – Public Works crews began removing the trolley car tracks from the streets of Key West. The plan was to completely remove the tracks from streets paved with marl. The tracks on brick-paved streets would be left in place and covered with a thick layer of asphalt.
1936 – President Franklin Roosevelt approved a loan of $3.6 million to build a highway over the old Overseas Railroad bridges.
1938 – Many coconut palms in Key West were dying from both a lack of rain and brush fires that had recently plagued sections of the island. Others, though, were dying of some sort of unknown disease, the only control of which seemed to be cutting down infected trees.
1939 – The schooner A.M. Adams arrived from Nicaragua with 300 green turtles to be placed in the turtle kraals at the Granday canning factory.
1947 – In a letter to Governor Millard Caldwell, Bernie C. Papy of Key West resigned from the Florida House of Representatives after his indictment on charges of attempting to bribe fellow members.
1985 – In Federal Court, 12 of the 14 people charged in what was known as the “Bubba Bust” drug case were found guilty.
1990 – Thunderstorms during the night dumped 3 1/2 inches of rain on the island, flooding streets, businesses and parked cars.
2007 – The Atlantic Shores Resort in Key West closed. The popular resort with its clothing-optional pool was famous for its Sunday tea dances.
2013 – Monroe County School District and City of Key West officials gathered and celebrated on the steps of Glynn Archer School as the 90-year-old school building was gifted to the city to become the new Key West City Hall.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A trolley on a dirt street circa 1900. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.