February 3
- Florida Keys History Center
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
1863 – Col. James Montgomery of the U.S. Army arrived in Key West to begin recruiting men for the new 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops.
1916 – The crew of the British lumber schooner Evadne arrived in Key West by train after their vessel sank in a storm south of the Florida Keys. The eight survivors managed to get into a dinghy before the Evadne went to pieces; they were then buffeted by heavy seas for two days before making landfall at Long Key.
1960 – A unit of Offshore Drilling, Inc., working under contract to the Gulf Oil Company, reached a depth of 4,415 feet at a test well site 20 miles south of the Marquesas Keys.
1961 – Staff from the National Park Service reported that a small armada of Cuban fishing boats and small craft containing refugees was anchored at the Dry Tortugas. Some of the fishing vessels were simply seeking shelter from bad weather, but many of the other vessels’ occupants were seeking a way into the U.S.
1961 – Movie star and night club entertainer Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, popularly known as “Stepin Fetchit” and born in Key West in 1893, returned to the island for a performance at Raul’s Club on South Roosevelt Boulevard.
1967 – Navy officials announced the “ghost town” of abandoned buildings in the 35-acre Poinciana tract between 16th and 19th streets and Duck and Donald avenues in Key West would be torn down and replaced by townhouse-style buildings to create 212 new housing units.
1998 – A major winter storm crossed through the Florida Keys, causing widespread damage and leaving one man dead. Tornados were reported in the Middle and Upper Keys. By midnight the Coast Guard had had received more than 300 calls.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The U.S. Navy's WWII-era Poinciana housing complex in Key West, 1963. U.S. Navy photo. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
