Today in Keys History – November 5, 2024
1906 – Over nine inches of rain had fallen in 48 hours, flooding the lower parts of Key West. The water at the corner of Southard and Margaret streets was over two feet deep.
1907 – The Anti-Saloon league was defeated in the “wet or dry” vote at Key West, squashing prohibition on the island. The night before the election tensions were high, and someone pulled down a large American flag from the league’s headquarters and tore it to shreds.
1935 – Thompson Fish Company announced that it had purchased the Overseas Transportation Company and started freight service from Miami to replace the Overseas Railroad that was destroyed in the hurricane.
1937 – Rebecca Ambrister, a member of Bethel A.M.E. Church, died at the age of 116. According to family records she was born June 1, 1821, in New Haven, Connecticut.
1954 – The new Carlos Food Center opened at the corner of Elizabeth and Caroline streets in Key West. Father and son Juan and Carlos Calleja built the $80,000 concrete block structure to replace an earlier store the family had operated for 45 years.
1964 – The Monroe County Commission felt the time was right to lobby Washington for a long-sought road from the west coast of mainland Florida to Big Pine Key. The idea had been opposed by the Department of the Interior as it conflicted with Everglades National Park, but commissioners felt with recent strong Democratic support by Monroe County voters, they now had the clout to make it happen.
1996 – Shirley Freeman and Mary Kay Reich were re-elected to the Monroe County Commission and Rick Roth was re-elected as Monroe County Sheriff.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Carlos Food Center 701 Caroline Street, 1954. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.