1888 – The construction contract for the Custom House at the end of Whitehead Street was awarded. The structure was completed at a cost...

1847 – Philip J. Fontaine was elected mayor of Key West. He had earlier served as mayor from 1840 to 1841 and 1842 to 1844. 1910 – The...

1893 – Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church was founded by Reverend George Lester at 717 Simonton Street in Key West. The church was later...

1860 – Capt. James M. Brannan, commanding officer of the U.S. Army at Key West, requested advice from Washington as to whether he should...

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1892 – The U.S. War Department decided that Key West would be garrisoned for the first time since the late 1870s, after Col. Lahrette...

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

1854 – The ship A.M. Hayes , sailing from New Orleans to Liverpool, was at Key West in a leaking condition. Areas near the waterline...

1908 – The Key West Journal, a weekly newspaper, made its first appearance. Fred H. Mathews was the editor. 1934 – Under the auspices...

A New York Times reporter wrote a vivid description of the Key West in 1873.

1908 – The Tampa baseball team lost every game it had played during the week against the Key West players. The Key West club was...

1849 – The New York Chamber of Commerce sent a memorial to Congress urging the salary of Judge William Marvin of the U.S. District Court...

1851 – The bark Franklin arrived at Key West from Philadelphia with iron framing for the new screw-pile lighthouse to be built at Sand...

1859 – In a trial in Federal Court, Alejandro Carcer and Guillot Eloy of the American schooner Enterprise were convicted of the murder...

1904 – Fred Ewert was hanged for the murder of Frank Whitaker. The gallows was erected behind the Monroe County Jail at the corner of...

1893 – Author Edwin L. Sabin wrote of a visit to Key West, “It is a misnomer to call Key West an American city. It is not. It has all...

1885 – The Key West Board of Trade, the island’s first commercial advocacy organization, was organized with John Jay Philbrick as...

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

1884 – There were 645,000 cigars, 14 bales of sponge, and 112 hides shipped from Key West to New York over the previous week. 1904 –...

1897 – Mason S. Moreno was named Postmaster of Key West. 1954 – An era in Key West history ended when the Ella Collins was beached and...