1924 – Richard Peacon, Jr. died at his home at age 64. For 38 years he had operated a grocery store in Key West, and the time of his death he had the largest store on the island, located at the corner of Fleming and William streets.

1905 – The Island City Bank was organized in Key West, and the following officers were elected: George S. Waite, president; C.R. Pierce, vice president; and E.M. Martin, cashier. The board of directors were: T.A. Sweeting, J.M. Phipps, J.T. Sawyer, and Richard Peacon.

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.

1946 – Four Key West bars – Duffy’s Tavern at 506 Fleming; Boat Bar at 503 Duval; Bahama Club at 519 Duval; and Raoul’s Place on Smith Lane – were warned that their licenses could soon be revoked because they were within 300 feet of the San Carlos building, which housed a school.

1951 – Monroe County commissioners, supported by the Lower Keys Property Owners Association, unanimously opposed Congressman Bill Lantalf’s bill to create a Key deer protection area on Big Pine Key. “I do not see why hundreds of miles of land is needed for 15-20 deer,” said Commissioner Frank Bentley.

1940 – Capt. Walter F. Jacobs, Commander of the Key West Naval Station, turned the first shovel full of dirt to begin construction of the new Naval Air Station at Trumbo Point. The Ivy H. Smith Company of Jacksonville would build the hangar and other structures.

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.

1935 – Biologist Emory Lowe Pierce of the Key West Aquarium received notice that his proposal for a crawfish and stone crab hatchery had been approved by Washington. Pierce said that as soon as he could set up the equipment, the process of hatching the crustaceans would begin.

1994 – Key Wester Frank Baing (aka the “Conch Salad Man”) died at the age of 93. Baing ran a Petronia Street a produce market, and in the 1950’s he began to sell food at Mallory Square. Baing was an icon of the early Key West sunset celebration.

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.

1945 – The Key West Drug Company, at the corner of Simonton and Fleming streets, featured a window display of trophies collected in the South Pacific by Key Wester Leo Braxton Warren, Chief Pharmacist Mate, USN, during his wartime service.

1960 – Betty Bruce proposed that a collection of pictures, maps, and books telling of the history of old Key West would be a worthy addition to the Monroe County Public Library, and she encouraged local persons to donate such materials “so that a real Key West historical corner could be established.”

1863 – In a ceremony at Clinton Place in Key West, the local citizenry presented a $750 gold sword to Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Commander of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment. Col. Good had rescinded an order that would have banished to Charleston nearly 600 Key Westers suspected of being Confederate sympathizers.

1919 – The Key West Branch of the Afro-American Independent Insurance Co. held a luncheon reception for ministers of the city at Newman Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was richly decorated with flowers and potted plants, and “the entire affair was one of the greatest events of the season.”

1930 – It was reported that 100 sharks, averaging 7 feet each, were being caught daily near Big Pine Key by boats working for the Hydenoil Company. “Not a particle of the shark is thrown away” was said of Hydenoil’s processing system, which focused on shark leather and liver oil.

A summary of Summer Reading 2025 programs and events at Big Pine Library!

1961 – ABC Television aired an episode of the series “Expedition” featuring Marathon and the Middle Keys, with a focus on the area’s recovery from Hurricane Donna.

1963 – Entomologists were zeroing in a species of whitefly recently found on Stock Island as the spreader of a lethal yellowing virus that was destroying coconut palms. Since its first appearance in Key West in 1954, the disease had killed 80% of Lower Keys coconut trees.

1959 – A simulated nuclear bomb drop was the central feature of Civil Defense exercises in Key West.