1949 – The new Monroe County Beach (now Higgs Beach) was dedicated. Judge Thomas S. Caro spoke, and Frank Bentley, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, made the formal dedication. The County had issued a $350,000 construction bond for the new beach.

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.

1963 – Long Key residents voted to incorporate a portion of the island as a municipality, approved naming the new city “Layton,” and selected Del Layton to serve as mayor.

1941 – Joe “Sloppy Joe” Russell, famed Key West bar operator, was stricken with a sudden illness while visiting his friend Ernest Hemingway in Cuba and died in a Havana hospital at age 51.

1946 – The U.S. Navy announced that a submarine squadron consisting of one tender and 10 submarines would be based in Key West.

The diary of a young business clerk visiting Key West in 1843 offers never-before-seen details about life in the Lower Keys at that time.