Governor LeRoy Collins at the dedication of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on December 10, 1960. From the Monroe County Library Collection.
Originally uploaded by Florida Keys–Public Libraries

America’s only undersea park celebrates its 50th year! Here’s a link to all the festivities: http://www.fla-keys.com/pennekamp50/events.cfm
Check out the library’s collection of Upper Keys photos, including the Pennekamp dedication, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/sets/72157625375988576/

In the 1950s, demand for new homes was exceeding supply. Developers were looking for areas to build. Old Town Key West was a good location near downtown stores and the well paid jobs on the Naval Base with old homes and buildings that could be removed and new ones built. This effort was being aided by the city commissions that at almost ever meeting were ordering old buildings and homes that were in disrepair to be razed; even the Oldest House on Duval Street was on the list …

We just finished uploading our collection of Florida East Coast Railway photographs to our Flickr site. Our goal is to have these photos (and oral histories and other related documents) available for anyone planning an event for the Florida East Coast Centennial in 2012. Here’s our policy on using the photos.
We chose to release the photos just before Labor Day to honor the men who worked and died building the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway.
It took almost seven years to build the extension. The working conditions …

Colonel Frederick Hambright
Frederick Hambright was born on May 1, 1727 in Germany.  He came to America on the ship, St. Andrew on October 27, 1738 with his father, Conrad Hambrecht, and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. During the immigration process the name was changed to Hambright and as far as I know all the Hambrights in this country are descendants of Conrad.
In 1755 Frederick Hambright moved to Virginia, where he married his first wife, Sarah Hardin. Then, in 1760, Hambright moved to Tryon County, North Carolina and settled near the …

Every June, we like to remind our community that now is the ideal time to think about protecting and caring for your family treasures. And if disaster strikes your household, be it a hurricane or a busted water heater, we want you to have immediate and trusted advice on how to salvage your photographs, scrapbooks, and other paper materials.
A few years ago, with the help of an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, we put together a pathfinder of websites selected to provide reliable information on protecting and salvaging …

In February 1923 Charles Curry who lived at 603 Southard Street hired a man to put a well in his yard. In the pre-pipeline days water for human consumption came from cisterns but most people had fresh water wells for other household uses. A layer of fresh water floats on the saltwater and a shallow well produces fresh water that some still use today to water plants.
Mr. Curry’s man reported he had sunk the pipe to the required depth and installed a pump but could only get oil from the …

View images from the Library Vault taken during the Mariel Boat Lift, April–June, 1980. The Miami Herald has unveiled this Mariel passenger/boat list, compiled in part by Cuban-exile and Key Wester, Arturo Cobo. Here are memories posted by boat name.

On May 18, 1991 Queen Elizabeth II of England visited Fort Jefferson National Park at the Dry Tortugas where she was welcomed by Monroe County Mayor and Queen Conch Wilhelmina Harvey who gave her a Florida Keys Conch Shell.
The late great Wilhelmina Harvey enjoyed telling the rest of the story about her meeting with the Queen. The Conch Shell is the proud symbol of the English Loyalist that settled the Bahamas after the Revolutionary War and later moved to Key West. The second part of the legend of the Conch …

This is a guest post by Anne Layton Rice.
We’ve just exceeded 400,000 views of our online historic Florida Keys photo collections. (See the collections here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries) These photos have been donated to the library over many decades and kept safely in the library vault. Only recently have we had the technology and volunteer power to share them on such a grand scale.
Coincidentally, we just ended National Library Week and this year’s theme was “Communities Thrive @ Your Library”. While history buffs, photography fans, and academic researchers around the world are …