1976 – The Singleton Corporation announced they had bought Sea Farms, Inc. and the Thompson & O’Neal Shrimp Company. The purchase included most of the waterfront of Key West Bight.

1961 – Key West’s Thirteenth Street was renamed to Kennedy Drive, and Fifth Street was changed to Macmillan Drive, to commemorate the meeting of President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on the island.

1959 – Rear Admiral Francis D. McCorkle, Commanding Officer of Naval Station Key West, was unanimously chosen to be Grand Marshal for the island’s annual Armed Forces Day parade. The popular McCorkle, a highly decorated war hero, was considered an “adopted son” by Key Westers.

1873 – Lodge No. 13 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was instituted at Key West.

1975 – The City of Key West was awarded a federal grant of $201,000 for its “Downtown ’76” restoration and redevelopment project. The funds would be used to make improvements along Duval Street in time for the nation’s Bicentennial observance.

1980 – A one-day record of 5,117 refugees arrived at Key West during the boatlift from Mariel, Cuba.

1954 – Taxi drivers from two cab companies petitioned the Key West City Commission for exclusive rights to their traditional stand on Duval Street near Greene. They said outside drivers were moving in, which was creating crowding and a traffic hazard.

1955 – Key West photographer Larry Karns was holding an exhibit of recent work at his 220 Duval Street studio. The focus of his new images was the “fast disappearing” architecture found in the island’s decaying homes, forts, and cigar factories.

1975 – A new turbine for the FKAA desalination plant on Stock Island arrived at Key West via an emergency Air Sunshine flight. A severe drought had caused Lower Keys water levels to drop very low, and desalinated seawater was crucial to getting through the dry spell.

1980 – As the Mariel boatlift continued to grow, President Jimmy Carter ordered 400 U.S. Marines to Key West to take charge of Cuban refugee management.

1955 – Work on the stands for the Key West High School Stadium was well underway, and the job was expected to be completed within the week. When done, the stands would seat 3,076 people.

1957 – A ground-breaking ceremony was held for construction of the Key West Moose Lodge on Eisenhower Drive. The organization had recently purchased the lot for the club’s new home.

2000 – Long-time Key West resident Marion Stevens died. In the early 1960s, Stevens opened the Artists Unlimited gallery on Duval Street, a focal point of the island’s arts community for the next 30 years. She was also active in Key West politics and was a leader of the successful anti-high-rise movement in the 1970s.

1955 – Monroe County commissioners deeded 1/2-acre of land near Hilton Haven to the Key West Lions Club. The County retained all mineral rights for the property, though.

1961 – ABC Television aired an episode of the series “Expedition” featuring Marathon and the Middle Keys, with a focus on the area’s recovery from Hurricane Donna.

2000 – The Florida Department of Community Affairs awarded Key West an additional 54 units of affordable housing under the Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO) because the city had preserved the Berg property, an unaltered beachfront area and home to many species of indigenous Keys plants and animals.

1860 – The U.S. Navy steamer Mohawk brought the captured slave ship Wildfire into Key West Harbor. The Wildfire had 510 Africans on board – people taken from the Congo River region and intended to be sold into slavery in Cuba. The Wildfire was in violation of U.S. and international law, and the Navy had been searching for such lawbreakers.

1963 – Entomologists were zeroing in a species of whitefly recently found on Stock Island as the spreader of a lethal yellowing virus that was destroying coconut palms. Since its first appearance in Key West in 1954, the disease had killed 80% of Lower Keys coconut trees.

1982 – The last span of the new Seven Mile Bridge was put into place.

1956 – Monroe County Commissioner Harry Harris announced that plans for U.S. 1 to bypass Boca Chica Naval Air Station were sent to the Florida Road Department for final approval. At the time, the highway cut through the air station, which was creating problems for both the Navy and civilians. The new bypass would skirt around the base on the Gulf side.