December 14

United States Custom House and Court House, now building.

1875 – Episcopal Bishop John Freeman Young called a meeting to organize St. Peter’s Church at Key West, and Father J.L. Steele was appointed the first rector.

1888 – The construction contract for a new Key West Custom House on Front Street at Clinton Place was awarded. The structure would be completed at a cost of $107,955.96 and occupied in the later part of 1891.

1899 – Key West was filling rapidly with strangers and tourists. The winter season was expected to be a good one.

1925 – Victor Boyajian, owner of the Jefferson Hotel on Duval Street, announced he was going to convert the hostelry into a modern-day office building. Work was expected to commence within days.  

1955 – The State of Florida allowed spiny lobster and stone crab traps to be placed within one mile of the U.S. 1 highway in the Keys. An earlier one-mile exclusion zone had been intended to keep traps out of channels but was found to make highly productive fishing grounds off-limits.

1956 – National Airlines made its first Key West flight with a 44-passenger Convair using the recently completed 4,800-foot runway, and it was greeted by city, county, and Navy officials. Later, about 30 Key Westers were given a 20-minute flight over the city.

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

Image: United States Custom House and Court House, now building. Key West Equator-Democrat Trade Edition, March 1889. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.