1948 – President Harry Truman arrived in Key West for a vacation and a crowd estimated at 25,000 lined the streets to greet his motorcade as it went to the Little White House. It was one of the largest gatherings ever assembled in Key West.

1926 – Joe Knight of Key West brought in the first kingfish of the season, which was taken as a sure sign that winter was coming and would soon bring snowbird visitors to the Keys.

1966 – The Navy submarine USS Marlin made its 2,500th dive with a descent off the Florida Reef. The 135-foot training sub, with a crew of 20 men and two officers, had been based in Key West since 1954.

1910 – A category 3 hurricane hit Key West and lasted 30 hours. Winds of 125 mph were recorded at Sand Key. Damage to shipping was heavy, but most of the town escaped serious damage as most of its buildings had survived a hurricane the previous year.

1986 – Two groups were vying for control of the historic San Carlos building on Duval Street in Key West. A year earlier, Florida Governor Bob Graham had given the Cuban American National Foundation charge of the empty and deteriorating structure, but another group, the San Carlos Institute, claimed prior rights.

1958 – The submarine USS Grenadier (SS-525) arrived at Key West, the last of five to reach the Naval Station in the past two months. The others were the Spikefish (SS-404), Bergall (SS-320), Atule (SS-403) and Tirante (SS-420). Over 400 men were attached to the five subs, roughly half of whom had families they planned to bring to the island.

1935 – A tally of casualties from the Upper Keys hurricane showed 285 veterans employed as bridge workers were dead or missing, and 101 were injured and hospitalized. Of civilian residents, 125 were dead, and 151 were hospitalized.

1946 – Due to Navy budget restrictions and a decrease in workload, Naval Station Key West’s submarine base announced its civilian workforce would be reduced by 30 percent, or 400 workers. The news was not a surprise as post-war cutbacks had been expected.

1981 – U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles dedicated the reconditioned cutters Ute and Lipan in ceremonies at the Coast Guard Station in Key West.

1946 – A plane from Cuba’s Aerovias Q airline made a 30-minute flight from Havana to Key West to establish regular air service between the two cities. Aerovias Q representatives then met with Keys officials to discuss specifics of the new connection.

1946 – The Marathon Chamber of Commerce said the community had grown to the point that the establishment of banking facilities was essential, and the group was starting a movement to establish a bank there.

1924 – Richard Peacon, Jr. died at his home at age 64. For 38 years he had operated a grocery store in Key West, and the time of his death he had the largest store on the island, located at the corner of Fleming and William streets.

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.

1986 – The schooner Wolf was proclaimed the flagship of the Conch Republic by Monroe County Mayor Wilhelmina Harvey. “As flagship of the Conch Republic fleet, we’ve placed the ship at the service of the republic,” said Captain Finbar Gittelman, who proudly used only traditional methods to sail Wolf.

1956 – A new 36-by-86-foot educational building for the Marathon Baptist Temple was nearing completion. The building, being built by contractor D.W. Barlow, was expected to open in a week.

1956 – The American Salvage Co. of New York was bringing up twisted steel remains and a cargo of ore from the freighter SS Edward Luckenbach, sunk just north of Key West. The 456-foot Luckenbach sank in 1942, when it inadvertently steamed into a WWII minefield.

1946 – Fred Dion purchased the Stone Hotel at White and Division streets in Key West from Edward Gomez for $28,000. The building had stores on the first floor and hotel rooms and apartments on the second.

1908 – The first train fully equipped for carrying passengers over the Overseas Railroad left Miami for Knights Key at 11 a.m. The train, consisting of six coaches and Henry Flagler’s private car, was an official excursion and no tickets were sold for the journey.

1926 – The Key West Realty Board heard a proposal by Hilliard Hammerschlag for a sight-seeing bus to be operated from Trumbo Island to points throughout Key West. Hammerschlag said between 200 to 600 visitors were arriving via train and steamer daily, and the proposition would be a profitable one.

1946 – The submarine tender USS Howard W. Gilmore arrived in Key West. The big tender was the long-running flagship for the submarine squadron assigned to Key West.