1955 – Florida Greyhound buses resumed service after a drivers’ strike. Airlines, and even cab drivers, had been able to get some travelers from Key West to Miami, but there was particular concern in the Keys that Navy personnel would not have been able to travel for the holidays.

1935 – The Cortez Cigar Co. building on Ann Street in Key West was destroyed by fire. The first alarm sounded at 10 a.m. and all the city’s firefighters arrived to battle the blaze, but the flames spread too quickly to be contained. Chief Harry Baker thought the fire was set intentionally.

1897 – Schooners leaving Key West were given warning shots by the U.S.S. Maine as a command for them to halt. The vessels were boarded by officers from the battleship and searched for arms and ammunition that might be used to illegally supply revolutionary forces in Cuba. None were found.

1985 – The 297-foot ocean freighter Eagle was sunk as an artificial reef in 100 feet of water off Islamorada. The project was sponsored by the Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association and the Keys Association of Dive Operators.

1974 – Keys shrimpers were experiencing a significant economic downturn as shrimp prices had dropped 39 percent over the previous year, while the cost of fuel was up 50 percent.

1985 – The new Seven Mile Bridge and the Long Key Bridge, both completed in 1982, were suffering from structural problems. Guardrails on the Seven Mile Bridge were spalling, and elements of the underside were deteriorating. Issues with the Long Key Bridge required that a model of it be built in Tallahassee so engineers could conduct stress tests. 

1959 – Jose Oropeza was the owner of the Square Deal Market at 829 Simonton Street.

1955 – Monroe County Commissioner Clarence Higgs said that the county’s top priority was to install streetlights along both North and South Roosevelt boulevards in Key West.

1888 – The construction contract for a new Key West Custom House on Front Street at Clinton Place was awarded. The structure would be completed at a cost of $107,955.96 and occupied in the later part of 1891.

1960 – The Key West City Christmas tree was planted atop a heavy concrete column in the middle of the intersection of Duval and Fleming streets. Many residents were concerned that it was only a matter of time before someone crashed into it.

1935 – Biologist Emory Lowe Pierce of the Key West Aquarium received notice that his proposal for a crawfish and stone crab hatchery had been approved by Washington. Pierce said that as soon as he could set up the equipment, the process of hatching the crustaceans would begin.

2000 – After a two-year overhaul, the WWII-era patrol torpedo boat PT-728 was launched at Stock Island. The historic vessel would be berthed in Key West Bight and available for passenger tours.

1960 – Florida Governor LeRoy Collins dedicated and christened John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first wholly underwater park in the world. A crowd of over 1,000 attended the ceremony at Harry Harris Oceanfront Park near Tavernier.

1955 – The cornerstone was laid for the new Key West High School located on a 14-acre property at the corner of Flagler Avenue and Duncombe Street. Roy T. Lord, Grand Master of Masons in Florida, presided over the setting of the stone.

1910 – Following the Secretary of the Navy’s recommendation that more important posts had detachments of Marines, 19 privates and a corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps were transferred to Key West.

1940 – Author Thelma Strabel moved into her new Key West home at 400 South Street by the Southernmost Point. Strabel wrote the novel “Reap The Wild Wind,” a story about island wreckers that was later made into a movie.

1955 – Filming of the movie “Carib Gold” began in Key West. The film, which told the tale of shrimpers discovering a sunken treasure, featured a largely Black cast, including actors Ethel Waters, Coley Wallace, and Cicely Tyson.

1938 – Key West’s charter boat fishing fleet moved to new quarters at the concrete dock along Trumbo Road. Six boats were at their new berths.

1926 – Eduardo H. Gato, Key West’s leading cigar manufacturer, died in Havana. He was born in Cuba in 1847 and came to Key West in 1874. His factory employed more than 500 workers. His last factory on Simonton Street still stands and is now used for Monroe County government offices.

1957 – Construction started on the Blue Lagoon Motel at the corner of Sigsbee Road and North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West.