July 8

The building at 216 Greene Street and Telegraph Lane with a sign naming it Mitchell Wolfson Way, ca. 1960s.

1908 – Monroe County Deputy sheriff and Audubon Society Game Warden Guy M. Bradley was shot and killed by outlaw feather hunters in what is now the Everglades National Park.

1910 – Capt. George Keys returned to Key West from an interrupted sponging trip after two of his crew, who were dissatisfied with the conditions of their voyage, put Campho-Phenique (an antiseptic) into the table syrup in an attempt to poison Keys.

1926 – The old streetcar tracks were removed in Key West. The old trolleys were burned, and the tracks sold for scrap.

1942 – The merchant vessel J.A. Moffett Jr. was damaged near Alligator Lighthouse by German submarine U-571.

1945 – Dr. James B. Parramore, county health director, reported there had been 35 cases of polio in Key West during the summer.

1962 – The movie “PT 109,” the story of President Kennedy during World War II, was being filmed on Munson Island. The movie starred Cliff Robertson as Kennedy.

1962 – Key West City Commissioner John dePoo was demanding that the archway signs proclaiming Telegraph Lane to be “Mitchell Wolfson Way” be removed as they had never been formally approved.

1986 – Ida Barron, newspaper columnist and historian, died at age 75. Among other accomplishments she was instrumental in bringing together the Island Roots celebration in the 1970’s in which Key West and New Plymouth in the Bahamas were named sister cities.

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

Image: The building at 216 Greene Street and Telegraph Lane with a sign naming it Mitchell Wolfson Way, ca. 1960s. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.