June 8

Guy Lombardo's Key Colony Beach Restaurant and Cabana Club, ca. 1960

1918 – Private Arthur B. Sawyer, U.S. Marine Corps, was killed in action in France. He was the first Key Wester to die in battle in World War I.

1935 – The Bureau of Fisheries reported that in 1934 Monroe County produced 4,706,700 pounds of fish valued at $156,733. The sponge catch was 87,200 pounds valued at $87,502.

1946 – Naval Station doctor I.P. Gardner charged that sanitary conditions in Key West were deplorable and perhaps helping spread polio. “City fathers should loosen up and clean up. Garbage disposal is impossible. If flies are the cause, then clean up the city. Others are cleaning up, why not Key West?” he asked

1951 – Monroe County Tax Collector Howard Wilson auctioned 788 parcels of tax-delinquent land on the courthouse steps, yielding a total sum of $8,499. The largest sale was a tract of land on Matecumbe Key that went for $742.70.

1958 – Famed band leader Guy Lombardo announced he was buying the Shamrock Restaurant and Key Colony Beach Club from Phil Sadowski. Lombardo said the Florida Keys should expect to see more of him and his band, the Royal Canadians.

1962 – Drums of explosive metallic sodium found beached and floating in recent days from the Dry Tortugas to Key Largo were traced to the January sinking of the motor vessel Heedless off the mouth of the Mississippi River.

1976 – Anthony L. Ulchar, of Little Torch Key, was elected State Commander of the American Legion, Department of Florida.

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

Image: Guy Lombardo's Key Colony Beach Restaurant and Cabana Club, ca. 1960. Blackhawk Films 35mm slide. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.