August 27

White Inn Bar at 1018 Truman Ave., ca. 1964.

1900 – The cigar business at Key West was booming. Every steamship arriving from Havana carried tobacco, and over 2,500 bales had been brought in over the past two weeks. It was said that “all factories are working full hands, and the output increases every week.”

1923 – The Key West City Council authorized the $4900 purchase of property in blocks 4 and 5 of Catherine Street for a park for the island’s “colored citizens.”

1924 – Work started on the construction of a causeway for automobile traffic from Key Largo to mainland Dade County.

1945 – Blas Zarate of the White Inn on Division Street (now Truman Avenue) in Key West was arrested for selling beer on a Sunday, and customer Harvey Stirrup was charged with consuming beer on Sunday. The men were given bonds of $250 and $25, respectively.

1966 – Captain Peter S. Knight, a Key West native, was killed in action in Vietnam. Captain Knight graduated from Key West High School and the University of Florida.

1971 – The abandoned lighthouse at the entrance to the Northwest Channel, frequently rumored to have been used by Ernest Hemingway, was destroyed by fire.

2000 – In a special report on cab fares, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper claimed that Key West taxis charged the highest rates in Florida, and they were even more expensive than those in any major U.S. city.

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

Image: White Inn Bar at 1018 Truman Ave., ca. 1964. Pt. Tract 13; built 1914. Photo taken by the Monroe County Property Appraiser's office. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.