1930 – Secretary of the Navy Charles F. Adams ordered the Naval Station at Key West to be placed in inoperative status no later than November 30. The closure was intended to save money as part of a broader “economy campaign” instituted by President Hoover.

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.

1960 – Poucher’s grocery store in Islamorada was purposefully destroyed by fire when, after days without power from Hurricane Donna, it was determined the rotting meats and vegetables inside were becoming a health hazard.

1963 – Long Key residents voted to incorporate a portion of the island as a municipality, approved naming the new city “Layton,” and selected Del Layton to serve as mayor.

1954 – The Florida Keys were undergoing a building boom: The permit for a two-bedroom $5,800 CBS home at Marathon was the 800th issued by Monroe County for new construction in unincorporated areas in two years.

1935 – The most intense hurricane to hit the United States passed over Long Key and Lower Matecumbe Key. The category five storm had a barometer reading of 26.35, winds estimated at around 200 mph, and tides 18 to 20 feet above normal. The storm killed over 400 people, many of them WWI veterans employed in building new highway bridges, and put the already financially troubled Overseas Railroad out of business.

1976 – President Gerald Ford signed the authorization to transfer ownership of Key West’s Fort Taylor to the State of Florida.

1951 – Developer Joe Sirugo agreed to sell 3,500 cubic yards of marl to the City of Key West. It would help satisfy the city’s need of 10,000 yards of marl to fill United Street between Leon and George streets and to fill George Street along the site of the new city housing project.

1963 – Rear Admiral L.J. Kirn, Commander of Naval Station Key West, reported the Keys’ Navy population numbered 21,000, including military and dependents. In addition, the military employed 1,860 civilian workers.

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.

1940 – Mabel McKinney sold her Key Largo property fronting the highway and known as “Mabel’s Place” for $1500 to A.K. Gray of Miami.

1933 – The wife, daughters, and grandchildren of recently deposed Cuban President Gerardo Machado arrived at Key West on the yacht Gen. Juan B. Zayas. Local officials offered them safe conduct, and a special train was arranged to take them northward.

1941 – The old Consumers’ Ice Plant at James and Grinnell streets in Key West burned. Firefighters had an especially difficult time with the idle structure’s cork insulation, which smoldered for hours after the main blaze was extinguished.

1960 – Betty Bruce proposed that a collection of pictures, maps, and books telling of the history of old Key West would be a worthy addition to the Monroe County Public Library, and she encouraged local persons to donate such materials “so that a real Key West historical corner could be established.”

1863 – In a ceremony at Clinton Place in Key West, the local citizenry presented a $750 gold sword to Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Commander of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment. Col. Good had rescinded an order that would have banished to Charleston nearly 600 Key Westers suspected of being Confederate sympathizers.

1985 - Mel Fisher and his team at Treasure Salvors, Inc., found the “mother lode” of the 1622 Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha after having searched for it for more than 15 years.

1910 – The four-masted schooners Carrie A. Lowe and the Charles A. Dumas came into Key West with supplies for the Florida East Coast Railroad and the Mallory Steamship Lines. With their arrival, there were five four-masted schooners in the harbor.

1974 – Fire destroyed the La Plaza grocery at 630 Fleming Street in Key West and an adjacent store and conch house at 628 and 624 Fleming. An Elizabeth Street home was damaged. The grocery building, across from the Key West Library, originally housed Pierce Bros. Hardware, established 75 years earlier.

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.

1994 – The City of Key West implemented a new “Cuban Heritage Trail” to bring awareness to the past and present contributions of Cubans to the island’s history and culture. A bilingual map and walking guide featured significant Cuban-oriented sites across the island.