1867 – Former President of the Southern Confederacy Jefferson Davis stopped in Key West on his way to Havana, where he was going for his...

1887 – The Spanish language newspaper El Yara began publication in Key West. 1897 – Extremely high tides in the Upper Keys destroyed...

1864 – Henry Hamilton and Darius Stokes, members of the 2nd USCT, were executed at Key West, probably by a firing squad, for mutiny that...

People dressed up as plants on a parade float. 1852 – Key Wester James C. Clapp opened a hotel called The Ocean House at the corner of...

1941 – Mom’s Tea Room near Fort Taylor was raided, and three women were arrested for prostitution. 1954 – Key West City Manager Victor...

1859 – The California steamship Moses Taylor arrived at Key West from Aspinwall with over 700 passengers and $2.14 million in gold. The...

1910 – Two Key West children were burned after their mother placed a can of flaming insect powder on the nightstand and it ignited the...

1832 – Ornithologist John James Audubon left from Charleston on board the Revenue Cutter Marion , bound for the Florida Keys. 1912 –...

1848 – At a meeting of the Key West Whigs, all were in support of Zachary Taylor. They also voted to approve Representative Edward C....

1901 – N.M. George on the yacht Privateer fishing in the Bahia Honda Channel landed a tarpon that weighed 213 pounds and measured 7...

1825 – The U.S. schooner Shark sailed from Key West to Havana with a group of pirates captured by the USS Sea Gull . The outlaws were...

1833 – Cholera was rampant at Key West, and people were fleeing the island. A correspondent wrote, “all the garrison except one officer...

1906 – After 14 days of testing the DeForest wireless telegraph was accepted by the Navy. The stations in the system were at Key West,...

1898 – Lieutenant Commander Adolph Marix, carrying the final report of the USS Maine Court of Inquiry, sailed on the steamer City of...

1862 – U.S. troops at Key West were flouting postal protocol by smuggling their letters via Spanish “fruit sloops” to Havana, from where...

1826 – The ship Ellen , sailing from Havana to Philadelphia, went ashore on Carysfort Reef. Wreckers saved the dismasted vessel and...

1864 – Key West’s freedmen marked the first anniversary of emancipation with a celebration at the Baptist Church. U.S. District Judge...

1862 – The USS Magnolia , while on patrol for blockade runners, captured the British schooner Carmita off the Marquesas Keys and sent...

1832 – The Jackson Hotel at Key West was destroyed by fire, an uninsured loss of $7,000. Residents feared the Custom House, and even the...

1899 – Annie Fay, a White woman, and Will Harrison, a Black man, were convicted in the criminal court at Key West for having married....