July 20

Aerial view of Boca Chica airfield, 1943.

1888 – The Island City Guard was organized chiefly through the efforts of George Babcock.

1900 – In Criminal Court the case against E.J. Watson for assault with intent to murder was continued until the next term. Watson was not in custody and was living in extreme southwest Florida.

1946 – A conceptual plan to use the airfield at Boca Chica for both Navy and civilian purposes was announced by Charles B. Donaldson, Civil Aeronautics Administration Director of Airports. A meeting of interested parties was scheduled for the end of the month to formalize an agreement.

1953 – A tentative “Master Plan” for Key West was unveiled at the City Commission meeting.

1967 — Vice President Hubert Humphrey dedicated the Westinghouse desalting plant on Stock Island before a crowd of 500.

1975 – During the search for the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Treasure Salvor’s tugboat Northwind sank 25 miles west of Key West near the Marquesas Keys, drowning diver Rick Gage, and Dirk and Angel Fisher, the son and daughter-in-law of expedition leader Mel Fisher.

1985 – Mel Fisher and his team at Treasure Salvors, Inc., found the “mother lode” of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha after having searched for it for more than 15 years. Fisher valued the galleon’s cargo at $400 million.

2006 – Monroe County commissioners voted to ask the State of Florida to exempt Fort Taylor State Park from its plan to rid the Keys of exotic Australian pine trees. It was suggested park’s existing trees be left alone, but there be no replacement with the same species once they died.

---

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

Image: Aerial view of Boca Chica airfield, 1943. From the Report of the First Air Force Bomber Command Boca Chica Airport, Key West. Donated by Diane Eppert Marquis. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.