January 23
- Florida Keys History Center
- Jan 23
- 2 min read
1898 – The U.S. Atlantic Fleet arrived at Key West for offshore winter training. The Battleship Maine, which had been in Key West since November, joined the fleet.
1917 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, paid an official visit to the Naval Station at Key West and inspected the facilities. After the inspection he left for Havana on the Destroyer MacDonald.
1924 – A hunting party from Key West reported that deer were plentiful on Big Pine Key, though they were difficult to shoot. One herd of deer was observed swimming from Doctor’s Arm to No Name Key; others were thought to range as far west as Boca Chica Key.
1946 – Key West Tax Collector Sam Pinder, Sr. announced that 2,500 annual bicycle licenses had arrived and could be obtained for $1 per new license and 50 cents for a renewal. Pinder expected to make 300 sales on this date.
1954 – Florida’s acting Governor Charley Johns dedicated the new swimming pool at Key Colony Beach.
1974 – Air Sunshine, which would become Key West’s locally owned and locally based airline on February 1, announced joint-fare agreements had been signed with Eastern and Delta airlines.
1998 – The Key West City Commission approved a policy that allowed city workers to add domestic partners to the city’s health insurance plan.
2006 – Key West was struggling to find an answer for the removal of over 300 derelict cars that were littering city streets. Many of the vehicles had been flooded by Hurricane Wilma, but others were simply abandoned by owners who could not maintain them.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A Keys man with his dogs and a collection of mounted Key deer antlers, ca. 1940. From the Stetson Kennedy Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
