1949 – The Latin-American Chamber of Commerce was formed by 12 Key West businessmen to promote the island’s Hispanic-owned businesses and improve commercial ties with Cuba and other Latin American countries.

1946 – The Aerovias Q airlines building at Meacham Airfield in Key West was broken into overnight and most of its furnishing – chairs, rugs, lamps, and fans – were stolen. The theft was a setback for the Cuba-based airline’s Key West operation, which had just opened.

1976 – The Murphy Pacific Marine Salvage Company announced that its 212-foot vessel MV Curb would continue to be home-ported in Key West and on call for salvage operations along the eastern U.S. and Gulf coasts, as well as the Caribbean. A crew of 30 men were employed on the vessel.

1966 – J.B. Sawyer and Melvin Hanks, newspaper carriers for the Key West Citizen, were chosen to attend the “Newspaperboy of the Year” awards banquet in Silver Spring, MD, where the nation’s top paperboys would be recognized.

1956 – William B. “Willie” Smith, who had lived for decades as a recluse in the Audubon House, died in a Miami hospital. Smith kept the once-grand home at 211 Whitehead Street shuttered and locked to outsiders while living with no utilities in one upstairs room. He left a safe filled with cash and jewelry to the Convent of Mary Immaculate.

1932 – The Sinclair Refining Company announced the start of construction of a service station at the corner of Grinnell and Fleming streets in Key West. Three buildings owned by Robert Sawyer would be moved to accommodate the new structure.

1940 – Karl Tanzler, aka Von Cosel, was arrested when it was discovered that he had been living for years with the corpse of Elena Hoyos Mesa. She had been a tuberculosis patient at the Marine Hospital where Tanzler worked as an X-ray technician, and he became obsessed with her. Elena died in 1931 and was buried in the Key West cemetery; two years later Tanzler stole her body and took it home.

1951 – Helicopter Scouting Squadron HS-1, led by Commander Joseph T. Watson, was commissioned in ceremonies held at the Seaplane Base in Key West. It was the first HS squadron in the Navy.

1966 – Bob Richman’s “The Country Gent” store in Key West’s Sears Town was destroyed in an overnight blaze. A faulty neon lighting fixture was thought to have been the cause. Richman had moved the store from Duval Street only nine months earlier.

1935 – The Works Progress Administration offered to help rebuild and repair the hurricane-damaged highway ferry slips at Lower Matecumbe Key if Monroe County would contribute $12,000 toward the effort. County officials responded that they had no money.

1956 – Monroe County public schools had 5,712 students enrolled for the year. This was a 6 percent increase over 1955, which had already grown 10 percent from 1954.

1956 – The Monroe County Health Department inspected all the 42 trailer parks in the Keys and found nearly all were following sanitary code. Those not in compliance had only minor violations that were being remedied. At least five new parks were also under construction.

1863 – Post returns from Fort Jefferson for September showed that 588 men were stationed at the Dry Tortugas, including 125 prisoners.

1986 – Two groups were vying for control of the historic San Carlos building on Duval Street in Key West. A year earlier, Florida Governor Bob Graham had given the Cuban American National Foundation charge of the empty and deteriorating structure, but another group, the San Carlos Institute, claimed prior rights.

1931 – Capt. Matthew Gates brought a 19-foot sawfish and six nurse sharks into the local Key West “shark camp.” Eddie Saunders topped Gates, though, with a catch of 31 sharks.

1954 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez continued a crackdown on vice in the city by personally conducting a raid of the Mardi Gras Club on Duval Street. Three women were arrested and charged with “participating in a performance of an indecent and immoral nature.” The club manager was arrested, too.

1958 – Capt. Johnny West, representing the Key West Charterboat Association, offered plans to Key West city commissioners for a new marina at Garrison Bight. A 55-foot-long concrete building, concession area and restaurant, restrooms, a fuel dock, and new concrete piers were proposed.

1998 – Hurricane Georges, a category three hurricane, swept across Key West and the lower Florida Keys causing considerable damage. Key West’s iconic Houseboat Row was devastated by the storm.

1957 – Key Colony Beach became the second city in Monroe County when, at a town hall meeting, the community’s 11 qualified voters approved incorporation.

1973 – Prominent Key Wester Willard M. Albury died at the age of 88. Albury had served on the School Board and City Commission before becoming mayor of Key West in 1937, a role he held until 1945 when he resigned to become superintendent of schools. In 1950, he became administrator of Monroe General Hospital, from which he retired in 1958.