1935 – The Works Progress Administration offered to help rebuild and repair the hurricane-damaged highway ferry slips at Lower Matecumbe Key if Monroe County would contribute $12,000 toward the effort. County officials responded that they had no money.

1931 – Capt. Matthew Gates brought a 19-foot sawfish and six nurse sharks into the local Key West “shark camp.” Eddie Saunders topped Gates, though, with a catch of 31 sharks.

1958 – Capt. Johnny West, representing the Key West Charterboat Association, offered plans to Key West city commissioners for a new marina at Garrison Bight. A 55-foot-long concrete building, concession area and restaurant, restrooms, a fuel dock, and new concrete piers were proposed.

1937 – A plan was approved to remove WPA highway workers from the Upper Keys and bring them to Key West in case of a hurricane. Coast Guard patrol boats were to be used to move the men to No Name Key where they would then be taken to Key West by automobile.

1935 – The most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States struck the Upper Keys. The category five storm had a barometer reading of 26.35, winds estimated at around 200 mph, and tides 18 to 20 feet above normal. The storm killed nearly 400 people, including many WW I veterans working on new highway bridges, and the destruction put the financially troubled Overseas Railroad out of business.

1956 – Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies and the Florida Highway Patrol were cracking down on speeders along the Overseas Highway. Of particular concern was an increase in accidents by vehicles that came upon Mosquito Control spray trucks too quickly, and drivers who fell asleep at the wheel.

1923 – Monroe County commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of a $300,000 bond issue as a first step toward construction of a proposed “Overseas Highway” to run from the mainland to Key West.

1964 – Bernie C. Papy, 62-year-old Key West political leader, died. He had served 14 consecutive terms in the state legislature before at last being defeated in 1962. Papy was a powerful and influential Monroe County politician, and at the height of his career was called “King of the Keys.”

1936 – Tarpon fishing was becoming increasingly popular in the Keys, and many were being caught around Key West. Two of the more notable catches during the past 10 days were both over 6 feet long, each weighing more than 100 pounds.

1976 – The Key West Comparsa dancers and musicians left for St. Augustine to participate in the “Florida on Parade” Bicentennial celebration. They also planned to perform in the island’s Bicentennial parade on July 5, after their return.

1991 – Monroe County staff and nearly 100 volunteers collected more than 100 tons of garbage during the “Great Stock Island Clean-up.” The island had long been plagued by illegal dumping.

1923 – The local Key West baseball team defeated the visiting Havana Police Department contingent 5 to 3. Will Daughtry and “Midget” Sevilla were the outstanding players.

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.

1931 – Key West golf champion Robert Spottswood and six-time Havana women’s champion Mabel Stanford played an exhibition match at the Key West course, with Spottswood emerging victorious. Sanford, who had lived in Key West as a child, said the course was one of the trickiest she had played.

1954 – The Navy blimp ZPG-2, the world’s largest at 342 feet long, landed at Boca Chica Naval Air Station after being aloft for more than 200 hours without refueling – a new record. It had traveled from New Jersey and through the Caribbean before landing.

1976 – The Singleton Seafood Corporation announced they had bought Sea Farms, Inc. and Thompson & O’Neal Shrimp Company. The purchase included most of the working waterfront of the Key West Bight.

1956 – Two Key West political candidates who recently lost their elections were given a demonstration by a representative of the Automatic Voting Machine Company to show how votes recorded by the tallying devices could not be altered without detection.

1926 – Two men attempted to break into the Key West Custom House by drilling a 12-inch diameter hole through the basement wall, hoping to access the area where seized liquor, jewelry, cigars, narcotics, and other valuables were kept. A night watchman encountered the men and fired shots at them, but they escaped via the waterfront.

1968 – National Air Lines made the first jet landing at Key West International Airport using a Boeing 727. The county had extended the runway and removed obstructions to make the airport usable for jets.

1942 – The USS Sturtevant (DD 240) strayed into the U.S. Navy’s anti-submarine minefield while leaving Key West via the Northwest Channel and was sunk with a loss of 17 men.