April 23
- Florida Keys History Center
- Apr 22
- 2 min read

1856 – Company A of the U.S. Army’s 1st Artillery left Key West for Punta Rasa in Charlotte Harbor on the schooner J.J. Taylor. The men were to join Col. Monroe’s command at Fort Myers or Pavilion Key.
1951 – Granville Smith was remodeling four buildings he had moved from the old Peary Court Army barracks to the neighborhood of Dey and Elizabeth streets in Key West. Smith planned to spend $27,478 in the renovations.
1963 – Reta Sawyer of the Old Island Restoration Foundation announced the new Hospitality House at Mallory Square had been a success, with nearly 3,000 visitors coming from every state and 15 countries since its December opening.
1980 – The Monroe County Sheriff’s office reported a steady stream of boats being trailed south as the Miami exile community converged on Key West to sail to Cuba to pick up relatives that the Castro government was reported letting leave. By the end of the day 280 Cuban refugees had arrived in Key West and another 68 in Miami.
1982 – The Florida Keys seceded from the United States in a mock ceremony to protest the U.S. Border Patrol’s establishment of a roadblock at Florida City to check the citizenship of everyone leaving Monroe County. The resulting traffic delays caused a dramatic drop in visitation and business. To protest, Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow announced the establishment of the new “Conch Republic,” of which he was Prime Minister.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The founding of the Conch Republic on April 23, 1982. From the Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.