2011 – Islamorada’s Cheeca Lodge was purchased for $100 million by a subsidiary of New York-based Northwood Investors. In 2003, the property had sold for $33 million.

1863 – In a ceremony at Clinton Place in Key West, the local citizenry presented a $750 gold sword to Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Commander of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment. Col. Good had rescinded an order that would have banished to Charleston nearly 600 Key Westers suspected of being Confederate sympathizers.

1950 - The USO/YMCA at the corner of Whitehead and Southard streets provided services and entertainment to the military men stationed in Key West.

1957 – Someone stole $7,311.89 from the Food Fair supermarket in Key West. The money was taken from the store’s safe, which was not broken into and had instead been opened by a combination known only to a few. “We have a very limited number of suspects,” said Key West Police.

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.

1914 – Morris Garfunkel, who had long owned the Gulf City Furniture Company in Key West, announced he would soon be leaving the island to engage in business in Detroit, Michigan.

1962 – Rudy’s Bar was at 124 Duval Street, occupying the former Key West Custom House building, which had been moved to the location in 1891.

1917 - Ground was broken for the first Naval Air Station on Trumbo Point. The new air facility was on land rented from the Florida East Coast Railroad.

1974 – Fire destroyed the La Plaza grocery at 630 Fleming Street in Key West and an adjacent store and conch house at 628 and 624 Fleming. An Elizabeth Street home was damaged. The grocery building, across from the Key West Library, originally housed Pierce Bros. Hardware, established 75 years earlier.

1962 – Key West City Commissioner John dePoo was demanding that the archway signs proclaiming Telegraph Lane to be “Mitchell Wolfson Way” be removed as they had never been formally approved.

1990 – Key West Mayor Tony Tarracino and Corrine Crockett of Blue Heaven, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, cut the ribbon for the first Bahama Village Caribbean Festival. Musician Coffee Butler provided live entertainment, and island food and handicrafts were available along Petronia Street. Similar festivals were planned for the first Sunday of every month.

1994 – The City of Key West implemented a new “Cuban Heritage Trail” to bring awareness to the past and present contributions of Cubans to the island’s history and culture. A bilingual map and walking guide featured significant Cuban-oriented sites across the island.

1935 – Emory Lowe Pierce, Jr. was appointed superintendent of the Key West Tropical Aquarium. Pierce, a Key West native, had graduated from the University of Florida a week earlier with a degree in marine biology.

1942 – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Thetis sank the German submarine U-157 22 miles south of the Marquesas Keys by dropping seven depth charges around it. The kill was confirmed when clothing and other debris from the sub floated to the surface. The U-157 was the only U-Boat sunk in South Florida during World War II.

1956 – The Monroe County School Board agreed to name a new elementary school on United Street May Sands Elementary School, the new high school on Flagler Avenue Key West High School, and the junior high school going into the old high school building on White Street Memorial Junior High School.

1961 – Key West’s Thirteenth Street was renamed to Kennedy Drive, and Fifth Street was changed to Macmillan Drive, to commemorate the meeting of President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on the island.

1959 – Rear Admiral Francis D. McCorkle, Commanding Officer of Naval Station Key West, was unanimously chosen to be Grand Marshal for the island’s annual Armed Forces Day parade. The popular McCorkle, a highly decorated war hero, was considered an “adopted son” by Key Westers.

1975 – A new turbine for the FKAA desalination plant on Stock Island arrived at Key West via an emergency Air Sunshine flight. A severe drought had caused Lower Keys water levels to drop very low, and desalinated seawater was crucial to getting through the dry spell.

1963 – Sam Golan, owner of the Key Ambassador Hotel and the Holiday Inn, was named president of Key West Films, Inc. The company’s mission was to create Keys-based films, and it had recently backed the production of “Man In the Water,” (aka “Escape From Hell Island”) starring Mark Stevens.

1943 – The Pirate’s Cove Fishing Lodge, along Bow Channel on Sugarloaf Key, was turned over to the Coast Guard. Work started immediately to convert the buildings into barracks for the Guardsmen who would be protecting Keys waters.