1975 – A team from Monroe County and the Historic Key West Preservation Board began a six-week project to remove dilapidated exterior additions at Old City Hall in Key West. The goal of the project was to strip the historic building down to its original configuration and rebuild the bell and clock tower.

1925 – Thomas Pinder was appointed caretaker of the Monroe County Courthouse grounds at Jackson Square in Key West. Pinder was to tend to the hundreds of recently planted shrubs and trees and stop attacks on them by boys who frequented the grounds.

1960 – Dredge and fill operations at Sigsbee Park (aka Dredgers Key) were completed, and the construction of 300 new housing units there would begin shortly.

1930 – Secretary of the Navy Charles F. Adams ordered the Naval Station at Key West to be placed in inoperative status no later than November 30. The closure was intended to save money as part of a broader “economy campaign” instituted by President Hoover.

1960 – Hurricane Donna passed over the Middle and Upper Keys with 150-mph winds, causing extensive damage: Over half of the structures from Marathon to Islamorada were destroyed; tides were 9 to 13.5 feet above normal; six highway bridges were severely damaged, and the water pipeline was wrecked in five places.

1940 – Wallace Kirke, director of the Key West Housing Authority, issued a call for bids on the construction of the J.Y. Porter Place and Fort Village housing projects. Porter Place was to be on Trumbo Island with 136 units. Fort Village, at Virginia and Fort streets, was to have 84 units for “colored” families of Key West.

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.”