July 22

Wallace Kirke, Mary Louisa Porter, Jeannie Kirke.

1853 – Lieut. George L. Selden of the U.S. Navy arrived at Key West on the schooner W.R. King. Selden was to have charge of all the lighthouses in the district from Cape Canaveral to Egmont Key, and he would be based in Key West.

1898 – Coal Passer Walter G. Monroe, USS San Francisco, died of meningitis in the Army Hospital at the Convent.

1925 – Governor John W. Martin named Miss Ileen Williams as the county’s first Juvenile Judge.

1925 – Capt. George Brown of the U.S. Engineering Department at Key West inspected the West Martello Tower and found that people had been removing sand from the area. He warned island residents it was illegal to remove anything from government property, and the punishment for doing so was serious.

1935 – The Key West Tree Guild was organized, with Wallace B. Kirke as president. The guild’s mission was “to provide a medium through which tree lovers can work and help in developing shade trees on the island.”

1982 – Two men hijacked an Air Florida flight bound for Key West to Cuba, dousing a passenger and the cabin with gasoline and brandishing cigarette lighters.

1985 – Jeanette T. Cooper, of Key West, was installed as the first woman president of the Southeastern Fisheries Association.

1990 – The movie “Crisscross” was being filmed in Key West.

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

Image: Wallace Kirke, Mary Louisa Porter, Jeannie Kirke. Collection of Mary Louisa Porter Grooms. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.