1949 – The Latin-American Chamber of Commerce was formed by 12 Key West businessmen to promote the island’s Hispanic-owned businesses and improve commercial ties with Cuba and other Latin American countries.

1976 – The Murphy Pacific Marine Salvage Company announced that its 212-foot vessel MV Curb would continue to be home-ported in Key West and on call for salvage operations along the eastern U.S. and Gulf coasts, as well as the Caribbean. A crew of 30 men were employed on the vessel.

1966 – J.B. Sawyer and Melvin Hanks, newspaper carriers for the Key West Citizen, were chosen to attend the “Newspaperboy of the Year” awards banquet in Silver Spring, MD, where the nation’s top paperboys would be recognized.

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.

1931 – Mary Dunn retired from teaching at Key West’s public schools after a career spanning 52 years. Dunn started at the Sears School in 1879 and moved to the Harris School when it opened in 1909. In all those years, Dunn was never late and missed only three days of work. “Sitting among those children every day has kept me young,” she said.

1931 – Two new local baseball leagues were organized at Key West. One, a group of six teams, would start immediately at the Harris School field. The other league planned to play at night at Bayview Park, and, pending the installation of lights, would begin their season on October 1.

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.

1984 – Harry Knight won the Democratic primary race and was automatically reelected as Monroe County Tax Collector. Other winners were Circuit Court Judge Richard Fowler, Public Defender Rand Winter, and School Board Member Dr. Geraldine Caron.

1927 – Two men, one from Bulgaria and one from Yugoslavia, were pulled from a fish oil tanker car carried on a ferry from Havana to Key West. The men were barely alive and covered in oily slime after having stowed away in the airtight tank for 12 hours.

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

1961 – Steel support beams, each 40 feet long and weighing 6,000 pounds, were placed atop the new Scottish Rite Temple at Eaton and Simonton streets in Key West to allow for another floor for the building.

1964 – Bernie C. Papy, 62-year-old Key West political leader, died. He had served 14 consecutive terms in the state legislature before at last being defeated in 1962. Papy was a powerful and influential Monroe County politician, and at the height of his career was called “King of the Keys.”

1995 – Fire destroyed the Copa nightclub and adjoining buildings in the 600 block of Duval Street. It was the worst fire in Key West in 72 years.

1845 – The Marine Hospital opened in Key West for the treatment of merchant marine sailors. It could accommodate approximately 50 patients.

1956 – Plans for an 18-hole course at the Key West Golf Club were submitted by Gulf Securities of Louisiana, Inc. Local leaders hoped the 6,600-yard, par 71 layout would attract top PGA and amateur events and bring additional tourism dollars to the Keys.

1936 – Prompted by the hurricane that struck the Upper Keys the previous September, a representative for the Works Progress Administration was in Key West to survey school buildings, City Hall, and the County Courthouse in preparation for making them more storm resistant.

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 Yacht Club opened its new marina with 48 berths for vessels up to 70 feet, a fuel dock, 110- and 220-volt electricity, and a blacktop road leading to the docks from North Roosevelt Boulevard.

1994 – The number of Cuban refugees who successfully crossed the Florida Straits in 1994 surpassed the 3,656 who completed the journey in 1993. Authorities estimated that only 4 out of 10 who attempted the crossing were successful.

1926 – Jumbo, a loggerhead sea turtle, celebrated his third birthday at the aquarium at the eastern end of Key West. Jumbo had been hatched in a sandbox onboard Peter Roberts’ fishing boat and then hand-raised alongside Roberts’ dock for two years, before being transferred to the aquarium because of his increasing size.