July 14

West Martello Tower and beach, Key West, ca. 1940s.

1888 – Benjamin B. Baker, master wrecker and pioneer pineapple planter on the Keys, died at his home on Key Largo.

1951 – The Key West Housing Authority voted to name the housing project on First Street for George Whiting Allen. George Allen served as Collector of Custom in Key West from 1897 to 1913. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1916. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank and was president until his death on May 30, 1922.

1953 – The Navy held a Court Martial on the Lieutenant Commander in charge of a Navy Relief smoker held at the Key West Cuban Club in February. Seven men were charged for staging the affair which started as an ordinary “stag show” and degenerated into a sexual orgy.

1955 – Work was underway on the new County Beach at the foot of White Street. A wall was being built into the water around the West Martello Tower, and sand would be placed on the inside to cover a rocky area. Steps would lead to the ocean from the wall for the convenience of bathers.

1959 – Key West lost out to Freeport, Texas, as the site of a federal saltwater conversion plant. Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton said Freeport’s greater industrial need for fresh water prompted its selection.

1975 – Authorities began a crackdown on illegal parking in the lot alongside the federal building on Simonton Street in Key West. Too many patrons of the Post Office were parking in spaces reserved for other federal offices.

2010 – The Monroe County Tourism Development Council announced an advertising campaign called “Unaffected,” which was paid for by the British Petroleum corporation and designed to counteract the negative effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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

Image: West Martello Tower and beach, Key West, ca. 1940s. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.