June 21

The building at 423 Front Street, Key West, ca. 1960.

1513 – Ponce de Leon named the islands at the western end of the Florida Keys Los Tortugas.

1914 – The U.S. Internal Revenue office was at 423 Front Street. The Deputy Collector was C.L. Knowles, and J.L. Johnson was the Stamp Deputy.

1923 – Ground was broken for the construction of the new Douglass School.

1940 – The U.S. Senate authorized $1.44 million via Works Progress Administration funding and federal loans to the Florida Keys Aqueduct Commission to supplement the $2 million allotted to the Navy for the construction of a water pipeline from the mainland to Key West. The additional funds would allow for a line of 14 to 16 inches to be installed instead of 8 to 10 inches.

1958 – The Mitchell Wolfson Foundation purchased the Audubon House on Whitehead Street.

1990 – The federal government granted endangered species status to the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, whose once plentiful population had dropped to as low as 150 individuals. Decreasing habitat and predatory stray cats were cited as the biggest threats to the vulnerable rabbits.

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

Image: The building at 423 Front Street, Key West, ca. 1960. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.