1966 – A glut of frozen stock left over from the previous season’s catch drove down the price of Florida Keys spiny lobster to 37 cents per pound on the opening day of the new season. Many crawfishermen threatened to hold off fishing until prices rose.

1953 – Charles Aronovitz retired from the Key West business his father started in 1889 and which he had taken over in 1939. The Aronovitz name would remain on the island, though, as his son Sidney opened another retail store at 622 Duval Street.

1926 – The new issue of the Lighthouse Service Bulletin explained how drinking water was obtained for the light stations along the Florida Reef: Rainwater that fell on the painted lighthouse structures was caught and carried by gutters and pipes to 8,000-gallon storage tanks, a method that had been practiced for nearly 75 years.

1966 – The Key West Chamber of Commerce agreed to accommodate the multi-million-dollar local seafood industry by adding a board seat for a representative from the trade.

1954 – Famed dancer Sally Rand was in trouble with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which ordered her two Key West properties to be sold to pay back taxes.

1918 – Private Arthur B. Sawyer, U.S. Marine Corps, was killed in action in France. He was the first Key Wester to die in battle in World War I.

1923 – The local Key West baseball team defeated the visiting Havana Police Department contingent 5 to 3. Will Daughtry and “Midget” Sevilla were the outstanding players.

1822 – Lt. Matthew C. Perry of the US Schooner Shark raised the American flag over the island of Key West for the first time, and the Keys were formally taken in the name of the United States. Lt. Perry named the island Thompson’s Island and the harbor Port Rogers, in honor of the Secretary of the Navy and president of the Navy Board. A 13-gun salute was then fired, followed by toasts and song.

1953 – Miss Etta Patterson’s coconut cake recipe, long a Key West favorite, was published across the nation in “This Week Magazine” in a feature written by food editor Clementine Paddleford.

1926 – The Key West Realty Board heard a proposal by Hilliard Hammerschlag for a sight-seeing bus to be operated from Trumbo Island to points throughout Key West. Hammerschlag said between 200 to 600 visitors were arriving via train and steamer daily, and the proposition would be a profitable one.

1946 – The submarine tender USS Howard W. Gilmore arrived in Key West. The big tender was the long-running flagship for the submarine squadron assigned to Key West.

1964 – The Florida cabinet authorized the construction of missile sites by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Boca Chica and Fleming keys. The permanent sites would be used as part of the line of defense against Cuba..

1938 – Toll receipts showed that 1,821 automobiles, carrying 3,632 passengers, had traveled the Florida Keys Overseas Highway over the Christmas weekend.

1935 – Despite the air temperature being a chilly 52 degrees, visitors from the north enjoyed swimming in the waters off Key West’s Rest Beach.

1888 – The construction contract for a new Key West Custom House on Front Street at Clinton Place was awarded. The structure would be completed at a cost of $107,955.96 and occupied in the later part of 1891.

1935 – W.P. Craig announced he was building a wooden dock at the settlement of Craig, located on the railroad right-of-way between Lower Matecumbe Key and Long Key. The bayside structure was to extend out 73 feet and end in a 209-foot-long T-head.

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.

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.

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.

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.