Today in Keys History – November 4, 2024
1864 – Henry Hamilton and Darius Stokes, members of the 2nd USCT, were executed at Key West, probably by a firing squad, for mutiny that occurred at Ship Island, Mississippi, in December 1863.
1947 – In the Key West city election, A. Maitland Adams and Louis Carbonell were elected to four-year terms as commissioners, and Fred J. Dion was elected to a two-year term. Adams, as the commissioner with the highest vote total, was elected mayor by the commission.
1964 – The Overseas Hotel on Fleming Street was blasted as a public nuisance. It had been closed and unused for over a year and was being illegally inhabited by vagrants. The wiring was faulty, the plumbing “useless,” and the inside strewn with garbage and filthy mattresses. Key West building officials planned to recommend it for condemnation.
1974 – The Key West City Commission passed two ordinances that prohibited high-rise buildings in Key West.
1997 – Sheila Mullins was elected Mayor of Key West, the first woman to hold that office. Percy Curry was re-elected to the City Commission.
1999 – The movie-themed Planet Hollywood bar and restaurant in Key West closed, as its parent corporation struggled financially.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Overseas Hotel at 1917 Fleming Street, ca. 1950s. Photo by The Key West Press. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.