August 12

The first highway being built alongside the railroad in the Florida Keys, 1920s.

1923 – Monroe County commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of a $300,000 bond issue as a first step toward construction of a proposed “Overseas Highway” to run from the mainland to Key West. 

1932 – Thomas M. Kelly retired after 27 years of consecutive service in the Lighthouse Service. His last station was at Alligator Reef Lighthouse, where he had been since 1917.

1934 – The first edition of the Spanish language newspaper Cayo Hueso was published. The editor of the new weekly was A.O. Armayor.

1936 – The Works Progress Administration opened a division of the Historic Merchant Marine Survey at Key West, with the mission to document the designs and histories of watercraft built prior to 1900. The new office employed 12 people.

1942 – The German submarine U-508 sunk the freighters Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo about 15 miles south of Key West. The two ships were part of a convoy that left from Key West, and they were transporting newly developed radio equipment.

1956 – A single Mediterranean fruit fly was found in the “Guava Grove” section of Key West, and the discovery of the invasive threat to agriculture guaranteed that the island would soon be subjected to aerial insecticide spraying.

1966 – As a planning “map” for Key West’s 20-year future began to be formulated, City Manager Vic Lang noted, “We have a crying need for moderate cost housing – housing that people like teachers and small businessmen can afford.”

1969 – Two Army Green Berets drowned in a training accident off the Naval Air Station at Boca Chica.

---

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

Image: The first highway being built alongside the railroad in the Florida Keys, 1920s. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.