July 21

Food Fair at 2500 North Roosevelt in Key West on April 23, 1957, ready for its grand opening.

1853 – The American bark Robert Morris, sailing from Cuba to Philadelphia with a cargo of sugar, went ashore on Pelican Shoal south of Boca Chica Key after everyone onboard became ill. Wreckers saved one-third of the sugar and some of the rigging and sails, before the Morris bilged and became a total loss.

1942 – The merchant vessel William C. Bryant was damaged 44 miles southwest of Key West by the German submarine U-84.

1957 – Someone stole $7,311.89 from the Food Fair supermarket in Key West. The money was taken from the store’s safe, which was not broken into and had instead been opened by a combination known only to a few. “We have a very limited number of suspects,” said Key West Police.

1957 – Sam Goldsmith, chief forecaster and hurricane expert, began terminal leave leading to his retirement on September 30. He entered the weather service on September 23, 1917, and came to Key West on August 20, 1920.

1961 – Governor Farris Bryant appointed Hilario (Charlie) Ramos Jr. to the Monroe County Commission to fill the unexpired term of the late Clarence Higgs.

1961 – Mrs. Sue Marvin Harwell Moore, 86-year-old pioneer schoolteacher of the Florida Keys, died in Coral Gables. Mrs. Moore first taught in a small one-room school in Marathon.

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

Image: Food Fair at 2500 North Roosevelt in Key West on April 23, 1957, ready for its grand opening. Photo by Don Pinder. From the Dale McDonald Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.