January 4
- Florida Keys History Center
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
1861 – At Fort Independence in Boston Harbor, Major Lewis G. Arnold of the 2nd United States Artillery was ordered to “embark your company for Fort Jefferson, on one of the Tortugas Islands, to garrison the same under your command.”
1936 – A report by the Bureau of Biological Survey in Washington showed that doves banded at Key West in 1935 and 1935 by lighthouse superintendent W.W. Demerritt were found in Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, and mainland Florida.
1952 – Mrs. George Lemay, 21-year-old Canadian beauty, disappeared while fishing with her husband off Tom’s Harbor Bridge. Her husband was under investigation, but he maintained that she went to the car, and he never saw her again. Without a body or any evidence of a crime Lemay was listed as missing, and no trace of her was ever found.
1956 – Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Five, commanded by Cmdr. Raymond W. Luke, was commissioned at Boca Chica Naval Air Station.
1974 – TV stars Jonathan Winters and Ernest Borgnine arrived in Key West to join Curt Gowdy in filming an ocean fishing feature for the ABC TV show “American Sportsman.”
1989 – The Monroe County Commission voted to buy Truman School for $937,000 for use as office space.
1991 – The Monroe County Sheriff’s 57-bed Marathon Detention Facility opened.
1992 – After a six-year renovation, Key West’s San Carlos Institute was reopened. Institute President Rafael Peñalver, who spearheaded the overhaul, introduced U.S. Senator Bob Graham as keynote speaker.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Dedication of the renovated San Carlos Institute in Key West, January 4, 1992. Photo by Tom Hambright. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.