August 14

Members of the family of deposed Cuban President Gerardo Machado family changing trains in Miami after fleeing Cuba via Key West.

1887 – Two new cases of yellow fever were reported at Key West in 24 hours, with one death. To date, there had been 242 cases since the epidemic began, with 47 deaths.

1933 – The wife, daughters, and grandchildren of recently deposed Cuban President Gerardo Machado arrived at Key West on the yacht Gen. Juan B. Zayas. Local officials offered them safe conduct, and a special train was arranged to take them northward.

1947 – City Commissioner John Carbonnell led a large delegation from Key West to attend a ceremony in Havana that changed the name of the Cuban city’s San Francisco Plaza to Key West Plaza.

1955 – The new Southern Keys Cemetery on Big Coppitt Key was dedicated, with Key West Mayor C.B. Harvey presiding.

1960 – As the new school year approached, Monroe County School officials were expecting a 10% increase over the previous year’s student enrollment of nearly 6,000 students.

1975 – Familiar Key West figure Wilfred “Red” Williams was stabbed and robbed in an overnight attack at Delmonico’s Bar, 218 Duval Street. Williams was the bar’s longtime caretaker and night watchman.

1985 – Approval was given to the Hilario Ramos family to build a 100-room, 17,000-square-foot hotel on two acres of land fronting North Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West. Ramos attorney Michael Halpern noted that it would be “the only minority-owned hotel in town.”

1988 – Pritam Singh held a groundbreaking ceremony to begin construction on the ambitious redevelopment of Truman Annex in Key West.

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

Image: Members of the family of deposed Cuban President Gerardo Machado changing trains in Miami after fleeing Cuba via Key West. L to R: Mrs. Elisa Sanches, boarding train, Monroe County Sheriff Karl Thompson, who escorted the party from Key West, Mrs. Obregon, with her one-year-old daughter in arms, and Dr. Ramon Crau with hat. The Scott DeWolfe Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.