1935 – The landing barge for the Miami-Key West Airways seaplanes was moved from the railroad terminus to the yacht basin (the former Naval Station submarine basin), which was better located and better protected. It was hoped the change would foster daily round-trip flights between the two cities.

2005 – The Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center at Florida Keys Community College was forced to close after being damaged by multiple tropical weather systems over the summer. A 500-seat, air-conditioned tent was to be erected in the parking lot to serve as an interim venue until repairs could be made.

1938 – Key Wester Charles F. Dupont died at age 77. In 1888, he became the first elected African American Sheriff in Florida when he was selected by Monroe County voters. He served as Monroe County Sheriff for five years. Key West’s DuPont Lane is named in his honor.

1960 – Dredge and fill operations at Sigsbee Park (aka Dredgers Key) were completed, and the construction of 300 new housing units there would begin shortly.

1955 – A “price war” erupted amongst Key West motel owners after Max Cohen, who owned three motels, began advertising $2 rooms. In response, the owners of eight other businesses posted signs advertising free rooms to stop Cohen from continuing his drastic price cuts.

1906 – John Lowe Jr. had a wholesale and retail lumber business, grocery store, ship chandlery and marine railway at the corner of Elizabeth and Greene streets.

On the first Friday of each month October-April, the Key Largo Library branch will present a live performance, free and open to the public.

1925 – Four stowaways were found hidden in the oil tank of the P.& O. railroad car ferry Jos. R. Parrott when it landed at Key West from Havana. The men, who claimed to have been born in Portugal, were expected to be sent back to Cuba.

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1957 – Key Colony Beach became the second city in Monroe County when the community’s 11 qualified voters approved incorporation at a town hall meeting.

1930 – Secretary of the Navy Charles F. Adams ordered the Naval Station at Key West to be placed in inoperative status no later than November 30. The closure was intended to save money as part of a broader “economy campaign” instituted by President Hoover.

1960 – The Monroe County Democrats opened a “Kennedy for President” headquarters at 532 Duval Street in Key West. The office would be staffed daily to provide information about presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and other Democratic contenders.

1948 – A category three hurricane passed over Boca Chica Naval Air Station, where a barometer reading of 28.45 and sustained winds of 122 mph were recorded. In Key West, the storm caused flooding and damage to boats and trees.

1909 – Monroe County Deputy Sheriff B.W. Glisson arrived at Key West from Knight’s Key on the steamer Mascotte, with prisoners Manuel Moses, Nod Cornell, Elio McKinney, and E.E. Whalton. Glisson had arrested the men for selling whiskey without a license at the railroad work camps.

1993 – Earl Adams died at age 90. He served on the Key West City Commission and was Monroe County Clerk of Court from 1949 to 1973. He was also a reporter for the Miami Herald and Key West Citizen and wrote a long-running Key West History column for the Citizen.

1983 – A group of New York actors, playwrights and theater supporters tried to purchase the late Tennessee Williams’s home in Key West for a museum. The effort failed from the lack of support and the difficulties of converting a house located in a quiet residential neighborhood into a commercial facility.

1908 – The Mallory Steamship Co. announced that, effective Oct. 1, its New York-to-Galveston line would no longer call at Key West. Instead, a new line from Mobile and Tampa would service the island, though a Galveston-to-New York vessel would still stop at Key West on Saturdays for freight and passengers.

Updates on improvements to the interior of the Islamorada Library Branch.

1994 – Former Key West Mayor Richard Heyman died at age 59, after a long struggle with AIDS. Heyman, who served two terms from 1983- 85 and 1987-89, was the nation’s first openly gay mayor.

1956 – James A. Portier of 110 Olivia Street in Key West returned home after playing his third season with the Negro League’s Indianapolis Clowns. Portier was a member of the league’s East-West All Stars, and he hoped to try out with the Kansas City A’s organization.