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.

2010 – U.S. Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn put the renovation of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas on their list of “100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues.” The duo said the work would not create and sustain economic growth and that the fort was too remote for most visitors.

1865 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler, Michael O'Laughlen, and Samuel Arnold – all convicted as conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln – arrived at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas to serve their prison terms. They joined 552 other prisoners being held there.

2008 – The dilapidated, Depression-era bandstand at Bayview Park in Key West was torn down. The bandstand had once been a community hub and the site of concerts, political rallies, and high school graduations.

1905 – Members of Key West’s Black community were urging a boycott of the Key West electric railway on account of a new “Jim Crow” rule that was scheduled to go into effect on July 1 to separate streetcar passengers by race.

1954 – Key West City Commissioners gave Al Logun, owner of Logun’s Lobster House at the south end of Simonton Street, approval to extend the street 100 feet into the ocean. The extension would alleviate a crowded parking situation and provide visitors with a better view of the water. 

1958 – Billy Watkins Moody, serving a sentence in Monroe County Jail for larceny, admitted to having started multiple fires in Key West.

1930 – The Lighthouse Service determined that small, battery-powered elecric light were a feasible replacement for those lit by gas.

1869 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, who had been a prisoner for four years at Fort Jefferson, was pardoned and released.

1955 – The Key West Garden Club’s annual Flower Show opened at the East Martello Tower.

1935 – An excursion to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas was offered to up to 16 passengers on the Commodore seaplane.

1912 – “Opening the Over Sea Railway to Key West” was the cover story of Collier’s National Weekly Magazine.

1925 – The Key West sponge fleet left port for their second trip of the season to the sponging grounds near Bahia Honda.