1926 – Joe Knight of Key West brought in the first kingfish of the season, which was taken as a sure sign that winter was coming and would soon bring snowbird visitors to the Keys.

1946 – Residents in the 2500 block of Seidenberg Avenue in Key West complained about multiple loud explosions in the neighborhood that were coming from dynamiting by Charles Toppino & Sons, who were filling low-lying lots in the area. The city gave the company three weeks to complete the project.

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.

1966 – Bob Richman’s “The Country Gent” store in Key West’s Sears Town was destroyed in an overnight blaze. A faulty neon lighting fixture was thought to have been the cause. Richman had moved the store from Duval Street only nine months earlier.

1935 – The Works Progress Administration offered to help rebuild and repair the hurricane-damaged highway ferry slips at Lower Matecumbe Key if Monroe County would contribute $12,000 toward the effort. County officials responded that they had no money.

1941 – Five hundred local carpenters entered the third day of a strike at the Key West Naval Station as they demanded a 12½ cent increase in their hourly pay. Navy officials said they would not negotiate during a work stoppage and that the men risked losing their jobs.

1937 – A plan was approved to remove WPA highway workers from the Upper Keys and bring them to Key West in case of a hurricane. Coast Guard patrol boats were to be used to move the men to No Name Key where they would then be taken to Key West by automobile.

1991 – For the second time in eight months, Key West city commissioners rejected a proposal for “Key West Fairways,” a 533-unit residential development along the golf course. The project was also to have sales offices, a 150-seat restaurant, a clubhouse, four tennis courts, and four swimming pools.

1946 – Marathon was growing rapidly: Tourist accommodations were fully booked for the upcoming season, and “draglines, graders, rollers, bulldozers, and trucks were busy clearing ground for further development.”

1936 – To generate funds for maintenance, the Key West Aquarium began charging an admission fee. The price of entry was 15 cents for adults and five cents for children.

1954 – Dr. Enrique Rodriguez, an 87-year-old retired physician who had practiced medicine in Key West for 55 years, estimated he had delivered almost 10,000 babies in the city. At one time he was the island’s only delivery doctor.

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

1923 – Monroe County commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of a $300,000 bond issue as a first step toward construction of a proposed “Overseas Highway” to run from the mainland to Key West.

1986 – Monroe County Commissioners voted to open the county’s three landfill sites once a month with no disposal fees. The move was prompted by the increased dumping of garbage and junk in empty lots throughout the Keys.

2006 – The City of Key West approved developer Pritam Singh’s plan to transform the Hampton Inn on North Roosevelt Boulevard into 74 “Keys-style” condominiums that owners could rent to tourists as de facto hotel rooms. The units would not be eligible for homestead status.

1980 – The Monroe County Advertising Commission allocated an additional $10,000 from its budget for advertising in South Florida to help turn around tourism losses resulting from damaging press about the Mariel Boatlift.

1946 – The Marathon Chamber of Commerce said the community had grown to the point that the establishment of banking facilities was essential, and the group was starting a movement to establish a bank there.

1983 – The $3.9 million sale of Key West’s Sands Beach Club to New York developer Austin Laber was completed. Laber revealed that he planned to demolish the three-year-old waterfront complex and build the Reach Hotel.

1991 – The 83-foot Greenpeace ship Moby Dick was repairing and replacing mooring buoys in the Marathon Marine Sanctuary, which encompassed all waters three miles out from Fat Deer Key to the Seven Mile Bridge. The mooring buoys had been originally installed in 1989, when Monroe County created the marine park.

1958 – Boog Powell was the leading hitter for the Key West High School varsity baseball team. Across the ’58 season, Powell had 27 hits in 64 at bats for a .415 average, along with 21 RBIs.