1871 – Frederick Douglass arrived in Key West on the USS Tennessee with other members of the Santo Domingo Commission. 1881 – A man...

1926 – Samuel J. Wilde of Boston purchased Crawl Key near Marathon from Mary Porter Harris, wife of the late Judge W. Hunt Harris of Key...

1853 – The case of the brig Cymbus , which had wrecked on the Western Dry Rocks, was heard in Federal Court. The vessel, sailing from...

1822 – Congress denied a land grant to the East Florida Coffee Land Association. The group was asking for a 23,000-acre tract that...

1847 – Congress approved $12,000 to build a new lighthouse at Key West, and another $20,00 to install a new screw-pile lighthouse at...

1906 – A group of young men speared an eight-foot, 800-pound sea lion in Jewfish Channel. The seal initially towed their boat as it...

1898 – The Naval Court of Inquiry in the sinking of the Battleship Maine was organized. The members of the Court – Captain French E....

1891 – William Tuttar of Key Largo was bitten by a “monster rattlesnake, with 17 rattles and a button.” He killed the reptile, and “by...

1848 – The new Key West Lighthouse on Whitehead Street was lighted for the first time. 1902 – Some of Key West’s leading Black citizens...

1861 – In answer to his request, US Army Headquarters in Washington ordered Captain Brannan to move his company from the Barracks to...

1861 – The Army reported that Fort Taylor had the following armament: 60 coastal and garrison cannons, 50 8-inch Columbians and 10...

1861 – A rumor came that the owner of the Steamer Isabel had offered her to Carolina for a man-of war. The Isabel provided mail service...