2010 – Buyers from China, Taiwan, and other overseas markets were paying between $5 and $7 per pound for spiny lobster, making Florida Keys crawfishermen very happy. These prices were double what they had been the previous year.

1994 – More than 17,000 Cuban refugees had crossed the Florida Straits during the month. It was the largest Cuban exodus since the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

1951 – Developer Joe Sirugo agreed to sell 3,500 cubic yards of marl to the City of Key West. It would help satisfy the city’s need of 10,000 yards of marl to fill United Street between Leon and George streets and to fill George Street along the site of the new city housing project.

1863 – One hundred sixty-five masons and laborers had recently arrived at Key West to work on the East and West Martello Towers, though some of the force was dispatched to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas for work there.

1941 – Naval Station Key West was running low on water, as rain had been scant, and the cisterns were nearly dry. Two water tankers were brought from Miami to help fill demand, but rationing was likely if rain did not come.

2010 – The Key West City Commission voted 5-2 to include a referendum on the November ballot asking voters whether the city should acquire the Glynn Archer school building for use as a City Hall.

1945 – Harold Colee, executive vice president of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce, presented a centennial plaque to William Curry & Sons of Key West. William Curry & Sons, founded in 1843, was one only three businesses in the state that have been in continuous operation for more than 100 years.

1952 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez claimed to be the last surviving man of the three who buried Elena Hoyos. Hoyos’ body had earlier been exhumed by an obsessed Karl Tanzler, who lived with her body for many years before being discovered. Perez said she was buried in an unmarked grave in the Key West Cemetery, and he would never reveal its location.

1958 – The Civil Aeronautics Administration agreed to relinquish any federal claim to the ownership of the Marathon Airport if title was obtained by Monroe County. County commissioners ordered the process to begin.

1964 – The Monroe County Commission, in a secret meeting, approved plans to raze the 11-year-old county jail in Key West and replace it with a three-story structure housing a new jail and courtroom facilities.

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.

1865 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Laughlen, and Samuel Arnold – all convicted as conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln – arrived at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas to serve their prison terms. They joined 552 other prisoners being held there.

1961 – Key West marine salvager Chet Alexander recovered a large, coral-encrusted anchor from an old wooden shipwreck found between the Sand Key Lighthouse and the reef. Alexander suspected the vessel was caught in a hurricane when it went down.

1930 – The Key West Pilot Commission voted to cut pilotage charges in half on all ships calling for fuel, supplies, repairs, or other needs. The move was made to encourage more shipping at the port of Key West.

1954 – Key West City Commissioners gave Al Logun, owner of Logun’s Lobster House at the south end of Simonton Street, approval to extend the street 100 feet into the ocean. The extension would alleviate a crowded parking situation and provide visitors with a better view of the water. 

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.

1962 – The Key West Citizen’s “Power for Peace” float was awarded the best-of-theme prize in the Key West Armed Forces Day parade.  

1989 – Shorty’s Diner, an institution on Key West’s Duval Street since 1942, closed. A.J. Galloway, son of the founder, announced he was moving to central Florida and taking a long rest.

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

1959 – Some 25 members of the Marathon-based Tortugas Shrimpers Association met with elected officials in Tallahassee to urge the passage of a bill that would reopen areas of the Tortugas shrimp beds that had been closed for conservation.