July 21
- Florida Keys History Center
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
1836 – The US schooner Motto left Key West with a detachment of marines to visit old wrecks along the reef and remove any lead from them so Seminoles warriors could not make bullets with it. Once the lead was removed, the crew planned to burn the hulls.
1900 – Dr. J.V. Harris was the chairman of the Monroe County Board of Public Instruction. The other members were George L. Barthum and Alfred Lowe. Dr. C.F. Kemp was superintendent of schools.
1942 – The merchant vessel William C. Bryant was damaged 44 miles southwest of Key West by the German submarine U-84.
1946 – Due to Navy budget restrictions and a decrease in workload, Naval Station Key West’s submarine base announced its civilian workforce would be reduced by 30 percent, or 400 workers. The news was not a surprise as post-war cutbacks had been expected.
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.
1976 – Big Coppitt Key was overrun with stray dogs, and people were being bitten. After a resident threatened to start shooting them, Deputy Sheriff Al Henriquez and a representative from the Humane Society went to the island and captured 34 canines.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Naval Station Key West Construction, September 11, 1941. Battery Overhaul Bldg., mixing material for acid-proof floor. US Navy photo; gift of Wendy Tucker. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.