December 9
- Florida Keys History Center
- Dec 8, 2025
- 2 min read
1867 – Former President of the Southern Confederacy Jefferson Davis stopped in Key West on his way to Havana, where he was going for his health.
1925 – Two Hungarian stowaways were found in a boxcar on the Havana-to-Key West ferry. Immigration inspectors were astonished by the men’s determination, as the car they were hiding in was loaded with bones and had a terrible smell.
1930 – The Hydenoil Products Company on Big Pine Key reported that one of its boats brought in a mackerel shark that was 14 1/2 feet in length and 10 feet in circumference with a weight of 1,752 pounds. The company had seven boats in service, and on December 8 they brought in 111 sharks averaging a little over 300 pounds each. The sharks’ skins were used for leather, the livers were processed for the oil and the fins were sold for soup.
1955 – The cornerstone was laid for the new Key West High School located on a 14-acre property at the corner of Flagler Avenue and Duncombe Street. Roy T. Lord, Grand Master of Masons in Florida, presided over the setting of the stone.
1961 – Teamsters Union head Jimmy Hoffa was in town inspecting the Casa Marina and La Concha hotels, both of which had been acquired by the union.
1993 – Monroe County was trying to resolve an $8-million mistake. The county’s consulting firm estimated that work on Card Sound Road would cost $11 million and borrowed that amount. The actual work cost only $3.8 million, leaving the county with excess money that could only be spent on the road.
2000 – An abandoned concrete bunker containing 80 sticks of dynamite, thought to date to the 1950s construction of nearby Venetian Shores, was found in a wooded area near mile marker 86.5 on Plantation Key. The Sheriff’s Office bomb squad successfully removed the explosives.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West High School on Flagler Avenue under construction, March 1956. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
