1963 – Rear Admiral L.J. Kirn, Commander of Naval Station Key West, reported the Keys’ Navy population numbered 21,000, including military and dependents. In addition, the military employed 1,860 civilian workers.

1945 – A contract was renewed for Fred Howland, Inc. to complete the construction of 155 low-cost Navy housing units at the end of White Street across from Rest Beach in Key West.

1941 – Naval Station Key West was running low on water, as rain had been scant, and the cisterns were nearly dry. Two water tankers were brought from Miami to help fill demand, but rationing was likely if rain did not come.

1975 – Six hundred people were employed in manufacturing in Key West. A partial breakdown showed 23.7% in textile and clothing production; 21% in stone, clay, glass, and concrete products; 15.8% in printing and publishing; 8.3% in making durable goods; 3.5% in chemicals; and 3.2% in non-durable goods.

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.

1962 – The House Appropriations Committee in Washington approved a $2,516,000 expenditure for a new bachelor officers’ quarters building to be located on the Trumbo Seaplane Base. The new facility would be centrally located and replace all existing BOQs on the base.

1941 – The old Consumers’ Ice Plant at James and Grinnell streets in Key West burned. Firefighters had an especially difficult time with the idle structure’s cork insulation, which smoldered for hours after the main blaze was extinguished.

1960 – Key West police officer Cpl. Harry Sawyer was chosen “most outstanding law enforcement officer of the year” by the Key West Junior Chamber of Commerce. It was the first time in six years that a Key West officer had won the coveted county-wide honor.

1857 – The schooner Joseph Crandall of Massachusetts arrived at Key West with 125,000 bricks for the construction of Fort Taylor.

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.

1902 – The electric and ice plant of William Curry & Sons on Front Street was destroyed when three boilers exploded. Thomas Webb and William H. Saunders were killed when the building collapsed. Pieces of boiler were thrown 10 blocks away, and the city was plunged into darkness. Damage to the plant was estimated at $75,000.

1955 – Work was underway on the new County Beach at the foot of White Street. A wall was being built into the water around the West Martello Tower, and sand would be placed on the inside to cover a rocky area. Steps would lead to the ocean from the wall for the convenience of bathers.

1974 – Fire destroyed the La Plaza grocery at 630 Fleming Street in Key West and an adjacent store and conch house at 628 and 624 Fleming. An Elizabeth Street home was damaged. The grocery building, across from the Key West Library, originally housed Pierce Bros. Hardware, established 75 years earlier.

1915 – A group of Key Westers took the railroad to Sugarloaf Key for a tour of the Chase sponge farm. Some of the old spongers in the group said, “they did not think such things could be done by artificial raising of sponges.”

1966 – Marine Lance Corporal Leland (Skipper) Albury, a Key West native, died from wounds he received in battle in Vietnam. Albury was a renowned tennis player for the Key West High School team, and the courts at Bayview Park are named in his honor.

1905 – An appropriation of nearly $500,000 was authorized for improvements at the Key West Naval Station, including new buildings, an extension of the coal sheds, and the construction of a quay wall from the sheds to Fort Taylor.

1962 – The submarine USS Sea Poacher (SS 406) recorded its 5,000th dive in Gulf Stream waters off Key West. Sea Poacher was launched in 1944 and had been in Key West since 1951.

1959 – The Key West High School baseball team won the Class A State High School championship with a 3-to-2 victory over Milton High.

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. 

1975 – The Florida State Unemployment Compensation Bureau in Key West moved from 419 to 421 Caroline Street. Both addresses were within the same building.