1961 – The Key West Players group was spearheading efforts to remodel an old warehouse building at Mallory Square into a theater that they called the Waterfront Playhouse. They planned for the 160-seat theater to be opened in time for the 1962 season.

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.

1926 – Five young men were arrested at Pigeon Key for traveling on the train as hobos. The men, hatless and unkempt, had no clear itinerary and no plans to work. They were sent to Key West on charges of vagrancy.

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.

1927 – Two men, one from Bulgaria and one from Yugoslavia, were pulled from a fish oil tanker car carried on a ferry from Havana to Key West. The men were barely alive and covered in oily slime after having stowed away in the airtight tank for 12 hours.

1950 – Thousands of fish were found in Key West streets after a heavy rain, with most along Caroline Street between William and Grinnell. One theory was that a large waterspout had carried the fish ashore, an idea supported by the fact that most of the fish were mullet which swim on the surface. Others insisted it had rained fish, and one man said he saw a full-grown sponge fall from the sky.

1845 – The Marine Hospital opened in Key West for the treatment of merchant marine sailors. It could accommodate approximately 50 patients.

1953 – Charles Aronovitz retired from the Key West business his father started in 1889 and which he had taken over in 1939. The Aronovitz name would remain on the island, though, as his son Sidney opened another retail store at 622 Duval Street.

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.

A U.S. Navy officer's survey, assessment and weather records from Key West in 1823 provide some of the earliest accounts of the island.

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.

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.

1956 – Monroe County Juvenile Court Judge Eva Warner Gibson called attention to an alarming increase in cases of juvenile delinquency. In an average year, she would sentence six to nine offenders to State industrial Schools. But in January and February of 1956, six had already been sentenced – a trend that could see 36 Monroe youth sent to State Schools.

1994 – The Florida Keys Tourist Development Council OK’d more than $1 million toward the renovation of Key West’s White Street Pier. The money would go to restoring water flow by cutting and bridging two sections of the 1,100-foot-long structure and making the pier fully pedestrian.

1974 – The Key West Armory building on White Street, newly restored by the Key West Historic Preservation Board, was re-opened. The building was available for rent for $50 per occasion.

1979 – Acclaimed playwright and Key West resident Tennessee Williams and his friend Datson Rader were assaulted on Duval Street. Both men were punched but neither needed medical attention. Williams said of the attackers, “Maybe they weren't punks at all, but instead New York drama critics.”

1956 – Monroe County engineers presented plans for new amenities at Indian Key Fill to the commission. The planned improvements included four round, concrete bathhouses with showers, along with picnic tables and benches.

1925 – A train with six water cars derailed overnight at Spanish Harbor near Big Pine Key. A wrecking train was dispatched immediately to clear the tracks, and traffic was restored by dawn.

1995 – Bicycling magazine named Key West the most dangerous city in the U.S. for bicyclists. Florida DOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator Dan Burden noted, “It’s 19 times more dangerous to ride in Key West than anywhere else in the nation.”