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.

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.

1935 – The Key West Tree Guild was organized, with Wallace B. Kirke as president. The guild’s mission was “to provide a medium through which tree lovers can work and help in developing shade trees on the island.”

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.” 

1925 – A new hotel to be built on a one-block lot at the corner of Washington and Thompson streets in Key West, and called the Ruy Lopez Hotel, was announced. In addition to the hotel, a new 15-block subdivision between it and the Atlantic Ocean was also planned.

1958 – Famed band leader Guy Lombardo announced he was buying the Shamrock Restaurant and Key Colony Beach Club from Phil Sadowski. Lombardo said the Florida Keys should expect to see more of him and his band, the Royal Canadians.

1960 – Monroe County commissioners ordered staff to develop regulations for the development of new Keys subdivisions. Commissioner A. Maitland Adams noted, “Subdivision developers are providing only one foot of elevation in many cases; miles of canals are being dug without regard to general development.”

1956 – Democratic Presidential candidate Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver was campaigning in Key West. He promised Mayor C.B. Harvey that if he was elected, he would make Key West his vacation headquarters.

1957 – A ground-breaking ceremony was held for construction of the Key West Moose Lodge on Eisenhower Drive. The organization had recently purchased the lot for the club’s new home.

1935 – A resolution by aFlorida Congressman to designate Key West Naval base a winter station for submarines met opposition from the Navy.

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

1935 – The Long Key Fishing Camp was hosting its largest group of anglers in five years.