August 18

Key West Fire Department's Tiger Hose Company No. 3 and engine, ca. 1920.

1906 – The Key West Realty Company founded a cigar company to build a factory on the large tract of land they had on First Street and County Road.

1915 – J.N. English was principal of Key West’s Douglass School; Mildred Shavers, Constance Roberts, Leonele Graham, Lucille Shackelford, Irene Roberts, Sam Welters, and Alma Dupont were teachers.

1917 – Key West Captain of Police Cleveland Elwood and Policeman Roland Curry, both candidates for a new term of Captain of Police, got into a fight on Duval Street. The men were talking politics when Curry told Elwood he was ignorant. Curry received a severe beating and Mayor Norberg Thompson suspended Elwood.

1945 – A fire engine first used by the Key West Fire Department’s Tiger Hose Company No.3 in 1917, was taken out of storage to be refurbished and returned to service. Fire Chief Leroy Torres said, “There is still a lot of good in old ‘Queen Mary,’” using the department’s nickname for the engine.

1954 – Dr. Enrique Rodriguez, an 87-year-old retired physician who had practiced medicine in Key West for 55 years, estimated he had delivered almost 10,000 babies in the city. At one time he was the only practitioner who delivered babies.

1960 – Key West City Commissioners authorized the transfer of a 200-by-200-foot lot to the Monroe County Cerebral Palsy and Crippled Association for a therapy center. The property was between the Anti-Mosquito District headquarters and the Humane Society animal shelter on Stock Island.

1991 – Louis Carbonell died at age 88. He had served as a Key West city commissioner, Utility Board member, and Clerk of Court.

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

Image: Key West Fire Department's Tiger Hose Company No. 3 and engine, ca. 1920. Wright Langley collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.