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.

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.

1952 – Key West Police Chief Bienvenido Perez claimed to be the last surviving man of the three who buried Elena Hoyos. Hoyos’ body had earlier been exhumed by an obsessed Karl Tanzler, who lived with her body for many years before being discovered. Perez said she was buried in an unmarked grave in the Key West Cemetery, and he would never reveal its location.

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.

2011 – Islamorada’s Cheeca Lodge was purchased for $100 million by a subsidiary of New York-based Northwood Investors. In 2003, the property had sold for $33 million.

1925 – Jefferson B. Browne and George W. Reynolds of Key West sold the Jefferson Hotel on Duval Street to James Simpson and M. Karaian of New York for $75,000. The new owners planned extensive renovations for the grand old structure.

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.

1930 – It was reported that 100 sharks, averaging 7 feet each, were being caught daily near Big Pine Key by boats working for the Hydenoil Company. “Not a particle of the shark is thrown away” was said of Hydenoil’s processing system, which focused on shark leather and liver oil.

1960 – Monroe County commissioners ordered staff to develop regulations for the development of new Keys subdivisions. Commissioner A. Maitland Adams noted, “Subdivision developers are providing only one foot of elevation in many cases; miles of canals are being dug without regard to general development.”

2015 – Members of the Douglass High School Class of 1965, the last to graduate from the segregated Key West school, gathered at the Marriott Beachside Resort for a 50th reunion.  “It’s always a pleasure to be among people you’ve known for years and some you haven’t seen in years,” said an attendee.  

1958 – Over 300 members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America were holding their annual convention at Key Colony Beach. The group participated in laying the cornerstone of the new Key Colony Beach Convention Center.