1948 – Fausto Castillo began construction of a new Fausto’s grocery store at the corner of Fleming and Bahama streets in Key West.

1906 – John Lowe Jr. had a wholesale and retail lumber business, grocery store, ship chandlery and marine railway at the corner of Elizabeth and Greene streets.

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.

1945 – Blas Zarate of the White Inn on Division Street (now Truman Avenue) in Key West was arrested for selling beer on a Sunday, and customer Harvey Stirrup was charged with consuming beer on Sunday. The men were given bonds of $250 and $25, respectively.

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.

1958 – The Civil Aeronautics Administration agreed to relinquish any federal claim to the ownership of the Marathon Airport if title was obtained by Monroe County. County commissioners ordered the process to begin.

1946 – After being re-tested, the waters of South Beach in Key West were declared safe and free of all disease germs. Staff from the Navy Hospital had issued a warning earlier in the week saying the beach was contaminated, unsafe for bathing, and off-limits to Navy personnel.

1945 – The northern portion of Lower Matecumbe Key, comprising 352 acres, was sold for $56,250 to a development group through Marathon realtor W.A. Parrish. The southern portion of the key had been purchased a few weeks before for the same price, meaning that in the two transactions the entirety of Lower Matecumbe sold for $112,500.

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.”

1981 – Peter Pell, one of the founders of Key West Hand Print Fabrics, died suddenly at his home in Key West. Pell, with his partner James Russell, founded Hand Print Fabrics in the early 1960’s.

1935 – The Key West Tree Guild was organized, with Wallace B. Kirke as president. The guild’s mission was “to provide a medium through which tree lovers can work and help in developing shade trees on the island.”

1956 – The Church of God at 905 Grinnell Street in Key West celebrated the arrival of their new pastor, the Reverend G.W. Fletcher Philips.

1958 – Congress agreed that the old Navy Hospital and Commissary building at Tropical and United streets in Key West could be turned over to the Monroe County School District for use as its maintenance headquarters.

1941 – Joe “Sloppy Joe” Russell, famed Key West bar operator, was stricken with a sudden illness while visiting his friend Ernest Hemingway in Cuba and died in a Havana hospital at age 51.

A diary from 1851 offers vivid descriptions and sketches from Key West at that time.

1955 – Monroe County commissioners deeded 1/2-acre of land near Hilton Haven to the Key West Lions Club. The County retained all mineral rights for the property, though.

1940 – Key Wester William W. Demeritt was commissioned a Captain in the Coast Guard.

1912 – President William H. Taft arrived in Key West via train.

The diary of a young business clerk visiting Key West in 1843 offers never-before-seen details about life in the Lower Keys at that time.