January 20

Douglass High School Band, Key West, November 1955.

1912 – A story titled “Opening of the Overseas Railroad to Key West” was the cover story of Collier’s Weekly Magazine.

1912 – Mulhall’s Wild West Show gave a performance at Trumbo Island. Colonel Mulhall’s show had appeared in all the major cities of the country, and the tent they brought was one of the largest ever used in Key West.

1926 – Monroe County Schools Superintendent Melvin Russell announced that cafeterias would be opened in the high school and the Harris and Division Street schools. The cafeterias would be operated by the Home Economics departments of the schools and $200,000 bonds would be used for their construction.

1935 – Official notice was received in Key West of the transfer of Fort Jefferson to the National Park Service from the Navy Department.

1958 – A groundbreaking was held in Key West for the Robert Gabriel housing project.

1959 – A small drilling fleet was on the way from Texas to test for oil near Key West, after the State Cabinet of Conservation issued a permit to the Gulf Oil Corporation to drill a well to 15,000 feet.

2016 – Key West City Commissioners heard debate about the best use for the band room of the former Douglass School. Members of the Douglass School Black Educators’ Memorial Project claimed it had been promised to them as a museum space, while the Monroe County Health Department wanted it for a clinic.

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

Image: Douglass High School Band, Key West, November 1955. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.