August 7

The Key West Elks Club at 313 Duval Street.

1840 – Seminole warriors attacked and burned the settlement on Indian Key, an island community founded by Jacob Housman as a wrecking station to rival Key West. Killed during the raid was horticulturist and physician Henry Perrine.

1909 – The Key West Elks hosted a turtle supper at their Duval Street clubhouse. Guests were C.L. Meyer, manager of the P. & O. Steamship Company, and a Mr. Ullman from the community of Planter on Key Largo.

1916 – Dr. John B. Maloney died in Philadelphia at the age of 49. He was born in Key West and received his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1908, he opened the Louise Maloney Hospital – Key West’s first private hospital. He also served as mayor of Key West from 1897 to 1898.

1961 – The Gulf Oil Corporation and the California Company began drilling a test oil well 40 miles west of Key West. They planned to penetrate as deep as 17,000 feet, depending on findings at higher levels.

1966 – Funeral services for Captain Eckwood Solomon Jr. were held at the First Congregational Church, with burial in Key West City Cemetery. Captain Solomon had been killed in action in Vietnam.

1966 – Gayle Swofford of the Florida Keys Broadcasting Corporation announced the construction of the first stereo FM radio station for the Florida Keys. When completed, the station with call letters WFYN (now WEOW) would broadcast stereo music from 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

1983 – Key West Police Captain Vincent Catala was shot and seriously wounded in a gun battle with a man trying to steal a car. Catala recovered, and the suspect was caught and sent to prison.

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

Image: The Key West Elks Club at 313 Duval Street. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.