February 11
- Florida Keys History Center
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
1848 – The new Key West Lighthouse on Whitehead Street was lighted for the first time. The lighthouse was built to replace an earlier one at the southwest point of the island that had been destroyed by the Hurricane of 1846.
1917 – Polk’s Key West Directory of 1917-18 listed 19 barbershops in the city.
1947 – President Harry Truman authorized Aerovias Q, a Cuban airline, to operate daily flights between Key West and Havana.
1956 – Burglars struck four Key Largo establishments: Harry’s Restaurant at Tavernier; Henry Bogaard’s Restaurant, also at Tavernier; Stan & Mary’s Restaurant at Rock Harbor, and Chum’s Dairy Freeze. Cash registers, vending machines, and charity containers were all plundered.
1961 – The Navy announced that it had named one of its new streets in the Sigsbee Park housing for Stephen R. Mallory. Mallory, who was from Key West, served as U.S. Senator from Florida in the 1850’s, and during the Civil War he was Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate States.
1961 – Cecil Green, owner of Islamorada’s well-known Green Acres fishing resort, was the subject of a two-part profile in the New Yorker magazine. Aside from Green’s fishing, the article also focused on other aspects of the Keys and Key West and, with the magazine’s circulation of 400,000, it was considered a PR boon for the islands.
1971 – According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in January 7.1 million pounds fresh produce was shipped through the port of Key West. Most of this was cucumbers brought in from Central America.
1976 – The Navy pipeline system that brough water from the mainland to the Keys was transferred to the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority by Marjorie Lynch, United States Undersecretary of Health Education and Welfare.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Harry's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, Camp Pleasant, Key Largo, ca. 1965. PB 1-186, Lot 25, Hi-166, OR 753-1747Q, OR 753-1748. Photo taken by the Monroe County Property Appraisers office. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
