1924 – A contest to name the new hotel being built at the corner of Duval and Fleming streets in Key West was drawing many entries. Some of the suggestions: Hotel Aubuchon, The Miramar, Trail’s End, Juan Salas, La Concha, Hotel Mariposa, The Palms Inn, La Mascota, and the Dolphin.

1905 – The Island City Bank was organized in Key West, and the following officers were elected: George S. Waite, president; C.R. Pierce, vice president; and E.M. Martin, cashier. The board of directors were: T.A. Sweeting, J.M. Phipps, J.T. Sawyer, and Richard Peacon.

1958 – Boog Powell was the leading hitter for the Key West High School varsity baseball team. Across the ’58 season, Powell had 27 hits in 64 at bats for a .415 average, along with 21 RBIs.

1962 – A team from the Florida Road Department was in Key West to survey for the possibility of constructing a bridge across Garrison Bight. The proposed bridge, running from somewhere between First and Fifth Streets and connecting to Palm Avenue, would ease traffic congestion and provide a base for a new marina.

1855 – Ellen Mallory, a Key West resident since 1822, died on the island at the age of 64. After her husband died in 1825, leaving her alone with two young sons, she opened the island’s first boarding house, which she then ran for many years. Mallory “possessed an extraordinary fund of good sense, wit, and humor, which ever made her an agreeable companion,” said her obituary.

1947 – Jack Dietz announced that a contract for $62,900 had been let to build the 28-room Blue Marlin Motel on Simonton Street in Key West.

1976 – The Monroe County Courthouse in Key West was being renovated for the upcoming national Bicentennial celebration. Among the improvements were new flooring and new interior paint. A 20-by-8-foot mural depicting the history of the Keys was also being rendered by artist Paul Stevens.

1953 – The crew filming the movie “Beneath the 12 Mile Reef” arrived and took over the Casa Marina Hotel. The movie starred Terry Moore, Robert Wagner, Peter Graves, and J. Carroll Nash, who arrived with the rest of the crew. Seventy-five locals were used as extras in the film.

1926 – Monroe County Sheriff Roland Curry arrested the promoter of a Stock Island cockfighting arena while a fight was underway. Fala Rodriguez was charged with cruelty to animals and placed under $100 bond.

1976 – The long-time home of Alvin and Eva Scott at 814 Windsor Lane in Key West was destroyed by fire. Passers-by rescued the elderly couple from the burning house, with Mrs. Scott requiring particular assistance, as she was completely blind.

1926 – Percy A. Cook was sales manager for the Tropical Isles Sales Corporation, a New Jersey company selling Florida Keys realty. Cook had a home on Cook’s Island, one of the Newfound Harbor Keys.

1964 – The Florida cabinet authorized the construction of missile sites by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Boca Chica and Fleming keys. The permanent sites would be used as part of the line of defense against Cuba..

1949 – The Key West City Commission granted a lease to the Key West Charter Boatmen’s Association for a portion of Garrison Bight facing North Roosevelt Boulevard.

1940 – Author Thelma Strabel moved into her new Key West home at 400 South Street by the Southernmost Point. Strabel wrote the novel “Reap The Wild Wind,” a story about island wreckers that was later made into a movie.

1994 – Key Wester Frank Baing (aka the “Conch Salad Man”) died at the age of 93. Baing ran a Petronia Street a produce market, and in the 1950’s he began to sell food at Mallory Square. Baing was an icon of the early Key West sunset celebration.

1937 – The former United States Biological Station at the eastern end of Key West was sold to Julian Marks, who renamed the property Casa Roma.

1935 – The ferry Florida Keys left No Name Key at 8 a.m., and two hours later the ferry Key West departed Lower Matecumbe Key, both resuming regular service for the Overseas Highway for the first time since the destruction of the Labor Day Hurricane.

2004 – The State of Florida agreed to buy the Harris School on Southard Street in Key West under its “Florida Forever” program. The plan was to lease the historic property to the Rodel Foundation and The Studios of Key West as an art colony, with Rodel agreeing to restore the building. The Monroe County School District had not decided whether to accept the offer.

1875 - Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, son of a Cuban revolutionary leader of the same name, was elected Mayor of Key West. The younger de Cespedes also served as president of the Revolutionary Club of Key West and would himself be a fighter for Cuba’s independence from Spain.

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