1912 – Henry Flagler arrived on the first train from the mainland to Key West, officially opening the Overseas Extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Mr. Flagler was welcomed to Key West by Mayor J.N. Fogarty, distinguished guests, and probably the largest crowd to ever have gathered on the island.

1891 – José Martí, the leading Cuban independence advocate, arrived at Key West from Tampa for his first visit to the island. He rallied Key West’s Cuban exile community to support the overthrow of Spanish rule over their island nation.

1960 – The Key West City Christmas tree was planted atop a heavy concrete column in the middle of the intersection of Duval and Fleming streets. Many residents were concerned that it was only a matter of time before someone crashed into it.

1938 – Key West’s charter boat fishing fleet moved to new quarters at the concrete dock along Trumbo Road. Six boats were at their new berths.

1959 – Dr. Delio Cobo was re-elected mayor of Key West, and Gerald Abreu and Kenneth A. Archer were elected to the city commission.

1924 – The cornerstone of the new St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Center Street in Key West was laid by the Reverend Cameron Mann, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Florida.

1946 – President Harry Truman arrived at Key West to begin his first of many vacations at the Little White House. He stayed for a week.

1940 – The Navy was building 50 housing units for low-income personnel at the Trumbo Air Base – 17 two-family and 16 single-family buildings. 

1955 – New Jersey industrialist Stanly Switlik presented the Monroe County School Board with 30 acres of land along Marathon Beach Road for the site of a new Marathon High School. Much of the ground was wetlands that would require filling before construction of the school could begin.

1966 – The Islamorada Branch of the Monroe County Public Library was officially opened.

1940 – Key West Judge Arthur Gomez granted Pauline Hemingway a divorce from her author husband Ernest, who did not contest the matter. Pauline was granted custody of their sons Patrick and Gregory and possession of the family home at 907 Whitehead Street.

1955 – Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, K.G., the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff for Great Britain, accompanied by U.S. Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Arleigh Burke, arrived in Key West for a demonstration cruise aboard the Navy’s cutting-edge submarine USS Albacore. 

1935 – While restoring the Key West Art Center located in the Caroline Lowe house at 303 Duval Street, carpenters discovered a hollowed-out rail on the widow’s walk. During the Civil War, Lowe often flew a Confederate flag from the walk, but whenever Union forces tried to seize the banner, they could never find it. It was thought this hollow was the hiding place.

1978 – Federal Judge William O. Mehrtens ruled that 11 stilt houses built in shallow waters to the west of Key West had to be removed.

1875 - Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, son of a Cuban revolutionary leader of the same name, was elected Mayor of Key West. The younger de Cespedes also served as president of the Revolutionary Club of Key West and would himself be a fighter for Cuba’s independence from Spain.

1985 – The State of Florida purchased the old rock quarry on Windley Key for $2.3 million under its Conservation and Recreational Lands program. The keystone quarry features spectacular fossilized reef structures in its 18-foot vertical walls that tell the geological history of the Upper Florida Keys.

1985 – The Monroe County Commission named the public library branch at Islamorada in honor of the branch’s librarian, Helen Wadley.

1935 – The landing barge for the Miami-Key West Airways seaplanes was moved from the railroad terminus to the yacht basin (the former Naval Station submarine basin), which was better located and better protected. It was hoped the change would foster daily round-trip flights between the two cities.

1960 – The Monroe County Democrats opened a “Kennedy for President” headquarters at 532 Duval Street in Key West. The office would be staffed daily to provide information about presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and other Democratic contenders.

1948 – A category three hurricane passed over Boca Chica Naval Air Station, where a barometer reading of 28.45 and sustained winds of 122 mph were recorded. In Key West, the storm caused flooding and damage to boats and trees.