June 7

Undated photo of a Key West baseball team.

1898 – A U.S. Marine Battalion that had been camped on Key West left for Cuba on the USS Panther.

1923 – The local Key West baseball team defeated the visiting Havana Police Department contingent 5 to 3. Will Daughtry and “Midget” Sevilla were the outstanding players.

1946 – Dr. J.B. Parramore said that there were 10 confirmed cases of polio in the Key West area. Though he did not consider the outbreak to be an epidemic, Parramore urged all islanders to take precautions to prevent the disease from spreading.

1947 – Captain Ray Noop of the shark fishing boat Dusky brought a record catch of 20 tons into Key West, a total of 145 sharks, the largest a 14-foot, 1,000-pounder. The livers were sold to the Borden Milk Company and the fins sold for shark-fin soup.

1956 – A catwalk for fishermen was opened on the Boca Chica Bridge, the first of many planned to be attached to Overseas Highway bridges throughout the Florida Keys. 

1964 – Prominent Key Wester Colonel Robert Spottswood died at age 73. He was survived by his wife Florence Maloney Spottswood and his son John. He was a past president of the Rotary Club and was active in the establishment of the Key West Golf Course and the Key West chapter of the American Red Cross.

2011 – State auditors began a voter-mandated probe of the Village of Islamorada’s finances, with much of the investigation focused on wastewater projects. The audit came after 20 percent of village voters signed a petition requesting one.

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

Image: Undated photo of a Key West baseball team. Dewey Riggs Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.