2006 – Prompted by blows from Hurricane Wilma and changing Medicare rules, the owners of Dennis Pharmacy at 1229 Simonton St. in Key West announced they were leasing the building to Marine Bank. The pharmacy would be consolidated with another branch, but the business’ popular diner needed a new home.

1946 – Key West City Manager Dave King explained the reasons for recent bar raids on the island: The serving of alcohol past midnight; minors working and drinking in the bars; and fights and the use of profane language by patrons.

2006 – The Friends of Fort Taylor launched a membership drive to call attention to the plight of the aging 19th century Key West fortification, which had suffered considerable damage months earlier during Hurricane Wilma.

1960 – After the lack of a rear exit forced firemen to break through the roof of a burning Duval Street store to fight the blaze, Key West Fire Chief Charles Cremata was conducting “fine-tooth comb” inspections all buildings on Duval to ensure they had proper exits and fire escapes.

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.

1956 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower, accompanied by his wife and mother-in-law, enjoyed a two-hour drive up the Keys along U.S.1. The group departed from Key West’s Little White House for the journey.

1935 – A set of four murals painted by Works Progress Administration artist Richard Jansen were displayed for the first time at the Key West Country Club New Year’s Eve ball. The murals, considered to be his best Key West works, depicted aspects of semi-tropical life.

1938 – Toll receipts showed that 1,821 automobiles, carrying 3,632 passengers, had traveled the Florida Keys Overseas Highway over the Christmas weekend.

1940 – The Cuban-American fraternal order Orden de Caballeros de Martí began a three-day state convention at the Key West chapter’s lodge at 919 Elizabeth Street.

1888 – The construction contract for a new Key West Custom House on Front Street at Clinton Place was awarded. The structure would be completed at a cost of $107,955.96 and occupied in the later part of 1891.

1955 – The cornerstone was laid for the new Key West High School located on a 14-acre property at the corner of Flagler Avenue and Duncombe Street. Roy T. Lord, Grand Master of Masons in Florida, presided over the setting of the stone.

1955 – Filming of the movie “Carib Gold” began in Key West. The film, which told the tale of shrimpers discovering a sunken treasure, featured a largely Black cast, including actors Ethel Waters, Coley Wallace, and Cicely Tyson.

1926 – Eduardo H. Gato, Key West’s leading cigar manufacturer, died in Havana. He was born in Cuba in 1847 and came to Key West in 1874. His factory employed more than 500 workers. His last factory on Simonton Street still stands and is now used for Monroe County government offices.

1957 – Construction started on the Blue Lagoon Motel at the corner of Sigsbee Road and North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West.

1955 – An eight-event race card was topped by a 30-lap feature race at the new Stock Island Speedway. Over 1,500 fans were on hand to watch drivers from the Key West Stock Car Association compete with rival racers from Miami.

1918 – The Florida East Coast Hotel system announced that, with the end of World War I, the U.S. War Department had released the men and material necessary for the company to resume construction on the Casa Marina Hotel.

1925 – The Norwegian steamship Capto arrived in Key West via the Panama Canal to discharge a cargo of 5 million feet of lumber from British Columbia. It was one of the largest lumber shipments in island history.

2010 – After multiple chicken poisonings in Key West and Stock Island over previous days, Lower Keys wildlife organizations were worried about not only the brazenly illegal acts, but also the effects that poisoned feed and tainted carcasses would have on other animals.

1955 – A “price war” erupted amongst Key West motel owners after Max Cohen, who owned three motels, began advertising $2 rooms. In response, the owners of eight other businesses posted signs advertising free rooms to stop Cohen from continuing his drastic price cuts.

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.