1925 – A train with six water cars derailed overnight at Spanish Harbor near Big Pine Key. A wrecking train was dispatched immediately to clear the tracks, and traffic was restored by dawn.

1985 – After months of delay and debate, Key West city commissioners approved development of “The Village at Key West” on 112 acres adjacent to the Stock Island landfill. The project was to include a 339-room hotel and convention center, 192 condominiums, a marina and a beach, a restaurant, and 10 retail shops.

1996 – Key West native and aviation pioneer Steven F. Whalton died on his 96th birthday. He was the third employee of Pan American World Airways.

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.

1925 – A freight train derailed at Marathon. A wrecking crew from Key West was dispatched immediately after receiving the news, but clearing the tracks delayed the arrival of the passenger train from morning to afternoon.

1946 – After being re-tested, the waters of South Beach in Key West were declared safe and free of all disease germs. Staff from the Navy Hospital had issued a warning earlier in the week saying the beach was contaminated, unsafe for bathing, and off-limits to Navy personnel.

1925 – Jefferson B. Browne and George W. Reynolds of Key West sold the Jefferson Hotel on Duval Street to James Simpson and M. Karaian of New York for $75,000. The new owners planned extensive renovations for the grand old structure.

1902 – The electric and ice plant of William Curry & Sons on Front Street was destroyed when three boilers exploded. Thomas Webb and William H. Saunders were killed when the building collapsed. Pieces of boiler were thrown 10 blocks away, and the city was plunged into darkness. Damage to the plant was estimated at $75,000.

1907 – The Excavator No.1 boat was blown up and destroyed by a gasoline explosion while employed on the Florida East Coat Railroad extension. Capt. Benjamin Peacon and Sonny Parks of Key West were severely burned and brought to the island for treatment.

2008 – The dilapidated, Depression-era bandstand at Bayview Park in Key West was torn down. The bandstand had once been a community hub and the site of concerts, political rallies, and high school graduations.

1915 – A group of Key Westers took the railroad to Sugarloaf Key for a tour of the Chase sponge farm. Some of the old spongers in the group said, “they did not think such things could be done by artificial raising of sponges.”

1966 – Marine Lance Corporal Leland (Skipper) Albury, a Key West native, died from wounds he received in battle in Vietnam. Albury was a renowned tennis player for the Key West High School team, and the courts at Bayview Park are named in his honor.

1962 – Florida State Road Department surveyors were in Key West to examine the site for a proposed causeway to cross Garrison Bight. The span, to be built on fill from deepening the bight, would start between First and Fifth Streets on one end and join Palm Avenue at the intersection of Eisenhower Drive on the other.

1913 – Agustin Parla Orduna, a Key West native, flew his sea plane to Cuba, becoming the second man to fly across the Florida Straits.

1860 – The U.S. Navy steamer Mohawk brought the captured slave ship Wildfire into Key West Harbor. The Wildfire had 510 Africans on board – people taken from the Congo River region and intended to be sold into slavery in Cuba. The Wildfire was in violation of U.S. and international law, and the Navy had been searching for such lawbreakers.

1961 – Charles Helberg, the builder and original proprietor of the Key Wester hotel, resumed control of the resort after it had been under the charge of an absentee hotel management group for four years. Helberg said the absentee model did not serve patrons, employees, or the community very well.

1980 – The Key West fishing boats Dos Hermanos and Blanche III arrived in Key West with 48 Cuban refugees, which began the Mariel Boatlift.

1930 – A statement was read at the Key West City Commission meeting advising any Greek sponge fishermen from Tarpon Springs to avoid moving their operations to Key West.

1937 – The turtling schooner A.M. Adams arrived in Key West on its first voyage, delivering a cargo of 380 green sea turtles.

1966 – Actress and singer Jayne Mansfield began a nine-night run of her one-woman show at the Tradewinds Supper Club.