1956 – Monroe County Commissioner Harry Harris announced that plans for U.S. 1 to bypass Boca Chica Naval Air Station were sent to the Florida Road Department for final approval. At the time, the highway cut through the air station, which was creating problems for both the Navy and civilians. The new bypass would skirt around the base on the Gulf side.

1961 – Charles Helberg, the builder and original proprietor of the Key Wester hotel, resumed control of the resort after it had been under the charge of an absentee hotel management group for four years. Helberg said the absentee model did not serve patrons, employees, or the community very well.

2010 – Nearly 200 Key West residents met with city staff to offer ideas for the development of 6.6 acres of land in Truman Waterfront Park. Creating an open green space and turning a former Navy mess hall into a community center were the leading choices.

1982 – The Florida Keys seceded from the United States in a mock ceremony to protest the U.S. Border Patrol’s establishment of a roadblock at Florida City to check the citizenship of everyone leaving Monroe County.

1980 – The Key West fishing boats Dos Hermanos and Blanche III arrived in Key West with 48 Cuban refugees, which began the Mariel Boatlift.

1970 – After 75 years of operation, the storm warning station at Lumley & Roberts Hardware Store was removed.