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April 30

  • Writer: Florida Keys History Center
    Florida Keys History Center
  • Apr 29
  • 2 min read
People sitting on board the deck of a sailing ship.
Africans on the deck of the slaving Bark Wildfire brought into Key West by the U.S. Navy, 1860. From Harper's Weekly, June 2, 1860.

1860 – The U.S. Navy steamer Mohawk brought the captured slave ship Wildfire into Key West Harbor. The Wildfire had 510 Africans on board – people taken from the Congo River region and intended to be sold into slavery in Cuba. The Wildfire was in violation of U.S. and international law, and the Navy had been searching for such lawbreakers.


1898 – War prices ruled in Key West. A tall glass of soda cost 15 cents, lemonade 20 cents and beer 25 cents. Drinking water was becoming more valuable every day, as there was a water shortage from a lack of rain.


1946 – In preparation of its new Key West distribution center, the Gulf Oil Company began construction of four 15,000-gallon tanks at its 0 Duval Street docks along the harbor front.


1955 – Françoise Sagan, a 19-year-old French literary sensation on her first U.S. book tour, arrived in Key West for a weekend stay as a guest of Tennessee Williams.


1966 – Three Key West High School seniors were killed and one critically injured in a car crash on Old Boca Chica Road after the Junior/Senior Prom.


1980 – Six more boats arrived from Mariel with about 200 Cuban refugees. This brought the number of refugees who had arrived in Key West to more than 4,700.


Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.


Image: Africans on the deck of the slaving Bark Wildfire brought into Key West by the U.S. Navy, 1860. From Harper's Weekly, June 2, 1860. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.


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