1907 – Key West was grappling with whether to prohibit alcohol or not, and 5,000 residents attended debates at Jackson Square to listen to speakers advocate for both sides of the issue.

1983 – Zayre Department Store celebrated its grand opening at the Key Plaza shopping center in Key West.

1956 – William B. “Willie” Smith, who had lived for decades as a recluse in the Audubon House, died in a Miami hospital. Smith kept the once-grand home at 211 Whitehead Street shuttered and locked to outsiders while living with no utilities in one upstairs room. He left a safe filled with cash and jewelry to the Convent of Mary Immaculate.

1932 – The Sinclair Refining Company announced the start of construction of a service station at the corner of Grinnell and Fleming streets in Key West. Three buildings owned by Robert Sawyer would be moved to accommodate the new structure.

1940 – Karl Tanzler, aka Von Cosel, was arrested when it was discovered that he had been living for years with the corpse of Elena Hoyos Mesa. She had been a tuberculosis patient at the Marine Hospital where Tanzler worked as an X-ray technician, and he became obsessed with her. Elena died in 1931 and was buried in the Key West cemetery; two years later Tanzler stole her body and took it home.

1954 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez continued a crackdown on vice in the city by personally conducting a raid of the Mardi Gras Club on Duval Street. Three women were arrested and charged with “participating in a performance of an indecent and immoral nature.” The club manager was arrested, too.

1958 – Capt. Johnny West, representing the Key West Charterboat Association, offered plans to Key West city commissioners for a new marina at Garrison Bight. A 55-foot-long concrete building, concession area and restaurant, restrooms, a fuel dock, and new concrete piers were proposed.

1957 – Key Colony Beach became the second city in Monroe County when, at a town hall meeting, the community’s 11 qualified voters approved incorporation.

1958 – The submarine USS Grenadier (SS-525) arrived at Key West, the last of five to reach the Naval Station in the past two months. The others were the Spikefish (SS-404), Bergall (SS-320), Atule (SS-403) and Tirante (SS-420). Over 400 men were attached to the five subs, roughly half of whom had families they planned to bring to the island.

1986 – The Key West Citizen announced it was building new headquarters on Northside Drive, which would allow the newspaper to modernize and “leap forward into the computer age.” The Citizen planned to make the move from its longtime 515 Greene Street address in approximately one year.

1956 – The Tradewinds Restaurant in the pre-Civil War era Caroline Lowe House at the corner of Duval and Caroline streets in Key West was gutted by fire and had to be torn down. The blaze was set by an arsonist who destroyed several significant Key West buildings before he was caught.

1946 – Key West City Manager J.S. Ellingsen announced the city was taking immediate steps to provide housing for customs and immigration officials at the East Martello military reservation, so the 17.1-acre tract could become part of a planned municipal airport and port of entry.

1936 – The U.S. Coast Guard cable ship Pequot completed the laying of 23,000 feet of communication cable from Alligator Reef Lighthouse to Lower Matecumbe Key. An earlier cable had been destroyed in the hurricane of September 1935, and the lighthouse had been cut off since then.

1963 – A strike by retail clerks of the Food Fair supermarkets in the Florida Keys became violent. In Key West, there was a bomb threat, a company accountant was beaten, and a newly hired cashier had his tires slashed. In Marathon, the store manager was threatened by a young man carrying a rifle.

1900 – Several thousand Key Westers watched a quarter-mile race at Barracks Beach between the horses Laconda and Levin. Laconda won by a length. The bet was $1000 per side, and much money passed hands outside of the official stakes.

1904 – The new St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church on Division Street (now Truman Avenue) in Key West was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. W.J. Kenny, D.D., Bishop of St. Augustine. Solemn high mass was led by Reverend Father A.B. Friend, and music for the event was provided by Ayala’s orchestra, accompanied by the grand organ.

1988 – Pritam Singh held a ground-breaking ceremony to begin construction on the ambitious redevelopment of Truman Annex in Key West.

1934 – Florida Governor Dave Sholtz arrived in Key West for his annual inspection of the Florida National Guard, which was in camp for two weeks of training at Fort Taylor.

1950 – Thousands of fish were found in Key West streets after a heavy rain, with most along Caroline Street between William and Grinnell. One theory was that a large waterspout had carried the fish ashore, an idea supported by the fact that most of the fish were mullet which swim on the surface. Others insisted it had rained fish, and one man said he saw a full-grown sponge fall from the sky.

1998 – The USCGC Keeper-class cutter Joshua Appleby (WLM 556) was launched. It was named for the keeper of the Sand Key Lighthouse who was killed by the hurricane of October 11, 1846.