July 28

The Monroe County Jail and courthouse at 500 Whitehead Street in Key West, built in 1953 and replaced in 1966.

1838 – The packet steamer Natchez, bound from New York to New Orleans, stopped at Key West for Liverpool coal. None was available, so a schooner was dispatched to get some from Havana, a process that took nearly a week.

1862 – John Bronson died of yellow fever, the first case of an epidemic that would claim the lives of 71 members of the 90th New York Regiment before it ended in October.

1911 – Plans for the new Sparks Chapel at the corner of Fleming and William streets were submitted to the church’s building committee for consideration, and the favored design was a building of reinforced concrete with a 75-foot tower. The previous chapel had been destroyed by a hurricane two years earlier.

1964 – The Monroe County Commission, in a secret meeting, approved plans to raze the 11-year-old county jail in Key West and replace it with a three-story structure housing a new jail and courtroom facilities.

1966 – Twenty-five-year-old Captain Eckwood Solomon was killed in action with a Green Beret unit in Vietnam.

1975 – A new ban by the Bahamas on foreigners fishing in their waters was pressuring Cuban-exile lobster fishermen from Miami to work in Keys waters. Approximately 2,000 traps brought into the Keys by Miami interests were mysteriously burned, sending a clear message – “Keep out of the Florida Keys.”

1977 – Monroe County was ranked 13th in all counties of the state in per capita income but had the highest cost of living in the state. Monroe County had a per capita income of $5,478 compared to Palm Beach the State’s highest with a $6,940 income.

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

Image: The Monroe County Jail and courthouse at 500 Whitehead Street in Key West, built in 1953 and replaced in 1966. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.