December 8
- Florida Keys History Center
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
1835 – The steamship Connecticut arrived at Key West, causing a bit of a sensation on the island. “It is something new for a boat of such a class as this, to be seen coming up to our docks; we hope ere long, however, to be enabled to witness the more frequent occurrences of this kind,” wrote a witness.
1836 – The USS Vandalia returned to Key West after a two-month cruise against the Seminoles along mainland South Florida.
1910 – Following the Secretary of the Navy’s recommendation that more important posts had detachments of Marines, 19 privates and a corporal of the U.S. Marine Corps were transferred to Key West.
1934 – Mayor William M. Malone, Mrs. William R. Warren, president of the Garden Club, Mrs. W.J. Phelan, vice president and Miss Molly Parker, secretary, planted the first trees in the Key West Botanical Gardens. The trees supplied by the U.S. Plant Introduction Station at Chapman Field, Miami, were all acacias, South American exotics.
1941 — Florida Highway Patrolman Paul Daniels, a Key West native who was shot and killed in the line of duty in Dade County, was buried in the Key West City Cemetery.
1960 – The city of Key West was aggressively condemning structures deemed “unfit and unsafe for human dwelling.” In recent weeks, 14 buildings had been torn down, and another 13 were scheduled for removal. Commissioners put another 28 buildings on a warning list, giving owners 60 days to bring them into compliance.
1983 – Preliminary plans for the development of the Truman Annex were unveiled before the Historic Preservation Board. The plan called for the Custom House building to be used as the lobby of an adjoining hotel complex that would have up to 500 rooms.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Marines lined up for inspection alongside Barracks Building 21, Key West, in 1912. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
