1983 – The $3.9 million sale of Key West’s Sands Beach Club to New York developer Austin Laber was completed. Laber revealed that he planned to demolish the three-year-old waterfront complex and build the Reach Hotel.

1991 – The 83-foot Greenpeace ship Moby Dick was repairing and replacing mooring buoys in the Marathon Marine Sanctuary, which encompassed all waters three miles out from Fat Deer Key to the Seven Mile Bridge. The mooring buoys had been originally installed in 1989, when Monroe County created the marine park.

1946 – The Johnson homestead at the corner of Duval and Eaton streets in Key West sold for $9,000. The property had a frontage of 130 feet on Duval and 134 feet on Eaton. It had been in the Johnson family for more than 75 years.

1958 – Boog Powell was the leading hitter for the Key West High School varsity baseball team. Across the ’58 season, Powell had 27 hits in 64 at bats for a .415 average, along with 21 RBIs.

Films and TV shows from the Monroe County Public Library collection, recommended by Library staff.

1931 – Key West golf champion Robert Spottswood and six-time Havana women’s champion Mabel Stanford played an exhibition match at the Key West course, with Spottswood emerging victorious. Sanford, who had lived in Key West as a child, said the course was one of the trickiest she had played.

1962 – A team from the Florida Road Department was in Key West to survey for the possibility of constructing a bridge across Garrison Bight. The proposed bridge, running from somewhere between First and Fifth Streets and connecting to Palm Avenue, would ease traffic congestion and provide a base for a new marina.

1926 – The War Department awarded a contract to the Over Sea Co. to construct a new causeway to Fort Taylor. The new land bridge was expected to give easier access to the old fort, making it more attractive to the many visitors to the island.

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month - but we hope you will listen to books from our collection all year long!

2001 – County-owned Higgs Beach Park needed a $2 million renovation, prompting many to wonder whether Monroe County should hold and maintain a park that is entirely within the city of Key West. Monroe County Mayor George Neugent felt the money could be better spent on recreation facilities in unincorporated areas of the county.

A U.S. Navy officer's survey, assessment and weather records from Key West in 1823 provide some of the earliest accounts of the island.

1907 – The Key West Chamber of Commerce voted to employ counsel to prosecute firms using “Key West” on boxes of cigars not made in the city.

1954 – The Navy blimp ZPG-2, the world’s largest at 342 feet long, landed at Boca Chica Naval Air Station after being aloft for more than 200 hours without refueling – a new record. It had traveled from New Jersey and through the Caribbean before landing.

1953 – The Lower Keys Property Association held a gala “Lights On!” celebration at the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp on Doctor’s Arm, Big Pine Key. Over 400 Keys residents came together to hail the advent of electricity on the island.

1991 – Scotty's Builders Supply held a grand opening for its new store at 2811 North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West.

1964 – “Escape From Hell Island,” a Key West-made and locally backed movie, had its world premiere at the San Carlos. The film received less than glowing reviews..

1926 – The shipment of Cuban pineapples from Key West by train was stymied when 150 men who transferred the fruit from the steamships to the rails walked off the job, demanding 60 cents an hour instead of 50 cents. The pineapple season was at its peak, and 160 railcar loads had shipped the day before.

1956 – Cuban Treasurer General Plutarco Villalobo Marquez presented a marble bust of José Martí to the Key West Art & Historical Society. Mayor C.B. Harvey thanked the Cuban government in both English and Spanish for the gesture of friendship.

We're celebrating America's 250th birthday throughout June & July at the Key Largo & Islamorada Library branches

2011 – Key West businessman and philanthropist Frank Romano died at 88. Romano and partner Joe Liszka founded the popular Key West Aloe cosmetics company, and they were instrumental in the creation of Fantasy Fest. Romano also led the charge for a formal Keys tourism marketing program and the “bed tax” that now funds the local Tourist Development Council.