July 30

A print of Fort Taylor under construction from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of August 9, 1856.

1857 – The schooner Joseph Crandall of Massachusetts arrived at Key West with 125,000 bricks for the construction of Fort Taylor.

1933 – The temperature reached 94 degrees at Key West, the hottest day recorded since 1884.

1935 – A golden eagle, a type of bird rarely seen in the Florida Keys, was shot and killed near the Key West airfield. Its wingspan was 74 inches. According to the airport manager, the eagle had been perching on one of the facility’s radio towers over the previous week.

1953 – Charles Aronovitz retired from the business his father started in 1889 and he took over in 1939. The Aronovitz name remained as his son Sidney opened another retail store at 622 Duval Street.

1955 – Assistant Key West Fire Chief Charles Torres collapsed while fighting a fire on Whitehead Street and was pronounced dead on arrival at Monroe General Hospital.

1975 – Key West businessman Ed Swift, speaking at a meeting of the Lower Keys Development Corporation, declared that the City of Key West was the rightful owner of the abandoned Naval Station on the western end of the island. He urged that if the federal government did not offer restitution for their use of the property by July 4, 1976, residents should march to take it back.

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

Image: A print of Fort Taylor under construction from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of August 9, 1856. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.