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November 3
1935 – Wm R. Kenan, president of the Florida East Coast Railway, arrived in Key West to inspect the company’s railroad and hotel holdings on the island. He said there would be no determination about restoring the rail line until inspectors completed an assessment of damage caused by the Labor Day Hurricane.

Florida Keys History Center
Nov 22 min read


October 18
1995 – The dilapidated structure of Key West’s famed Turtle Kraals Soup Cannery collapsed into the waters of the Key West Bight. The city rebuilt the building, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Florida Keys History Center
Oct 172 min read


September 26
1906 – John Lowe Jr. had a wholesale and retail lumber business, grocery store, ship chandlery and marine railway at the corner of Elizabeth and Greene streets.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 252 min read


September 25
1925 – Four stowaways were found hidden in the oil tank of the P.& O. railroad car ferry Jos. R. Parrott when it landed at Key West from Havana. The men, who claimed to have been born in Portugal, were expected to be sent back to Cuba.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 242 min read


September 20
1909 – Monroe County Deputy Sheriff B.W. Glisson arrived at Key West from Knight’s Key on the steamer Mascotte, with prisoners Manuel Moses, Nod Cornell, Elio McKinney, and E.E. Whalton. Glisson had arrested the men for selling whiskey without a license at the railroad work camps.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 192 min read


September 18
1983 – A group of New York actors, playwrights and theater supporters tried to purchase the late Tennessee Williams’s home in Key West for a museum. The effort failed from the lack of support and the difficulties of converting a house located in a quiet residential neighborhood into a commercial facility.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 172 min read


September 8
1905 – Three hundred men were working on Key Largo to build the railroad bed for the Florida East Coast’s Overseas Railway, and five miles had been graded on the island to that date. Another crew was making soundings and drilling bore holes at Knights Key to determine the best foundation to cross it.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 72 min read


September 4
1925 – A freight train derailed at Marathon. A wrecking crew from Key West was dispatched immediately after receiving the news, but clearing the tracks delayed the arrival of the passenger train from morning to afternoon.

Florida Keys History Center
Sep 32 min read


August 22
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.

Florida Keys History Center
Aug 212 min read


July 19
1907 – The Excavator No.1 boat was blown up and destroyed by a gasoline explosion while employed on the Florida East Coat Railroad extension. Capt. Benjamin Peacon and Sonny Parks of Key West were severely burned and brought to the island for treatment.

Florida Keys History Center
Jul 181 min read


June 26
1959 – The Navy announced it was building a new target area and observation towers at the Marquesas Keys as part of a “high altitude live bombing range.” The target would be placed two and one-eighth miles west of the islands, with the towers erected onshore. No damage to natural resources was expected.

Florida Keys History Center
Jun 252 min read


June 13
1936 – The Florida East Coast Railway company inquired to the Mallory Steamship Lines about moving 26,500 tons of rails, ties, and equipment, indicating it was preparing to remove the tracks of the Oversea Railroad.

Florida Keys History Center
Jun 121 min read


May 30
1975 – The cruise ship Pacific Princess made its third visit to Key West in a month. Greeters presented hibiscus flowers to lady passengers as they disembarked, and tea towels from Key West Hand Print Fabrics were given to all passengers.

Florida Keys History Center
May 291 min read


May 28
1962 – Florida State Road Department surveyors were in Key West to examine the site for a proposed causeway to cross Garrison Bight. The span, to be built on fill from deepening the bight, would start between First and Fifth Streets on one end and join Palm Avenue at the intersection of Eisenhower Drive on the other.

Florida Keys History Center
May 272 min read


May 12
1975 – The City of Key West was awarded a federal grant of $201,000 for its “Downtown ’76” restoration and redevelopment project. The funds would be used to make improvements along Duval Street in time for the nation’s Bicentennial observance.

Florida Keys History Center
May 111 min read


February 19
Many people were traveling by train from Miami to Knights Key “solely for the novelty of the ride over the sea by rail.”

Florida Keys History Center
Feb 181 min read


February 14
1924 – The first batch of concrete for the walls of the San Carlos Opera House was poured.

Florida Keys History Center
Feb 131 min read


January 24
1935 – An excursion to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas was offered to up to 16 passengers on the Commodore seaplane.

Florida Keys History Center
Jan 241 min read


January 23
1912 – Key West continued to celebrate the completion of the railroad. At 11 a.m. a parade marched down Duval Street.

Florida Keys History Center
Jan 222 min read


January 22
2004 – The City of Key West hired Armando Parra as official chicken catcher to try to control the island’s free-ranging chicken population.

Florida Keys History Center
Jan 212 min read
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