June 9

Aerial view of the Monroe County Jail on Stock Island.

1844 – The wrecking sloop Globe arrived at Key West with the pilot boat La Fayette and eight Louisiana men onboard who accidentally ran the vessel aground at the Dry Tortugas while escaping enslavement. The men and their boat would be held until the owners arrived and paid salvage fees.

1845 – Construction began on Fort Taylor off the western end of Key West.

1891 – Captain Ross of Jacksonville had the contract to build the first jetties in the Northwest Channel and he used stone quarried from Ballast and Sawyer Keys.

1926 – A runaway Ford touring car commandeered by a two-year-old caused much excitement as it sped down Key West’s Simonton Street. The child had been left alone in the vehicle and began playing with controls causing it to engage. It stopped only when it crashed into a barbershop at the corner Division Street. The child lost two teeth.

1936 – Judge H.H. Taylor fishing with attorney William V. Albury caught a barracuda that measured seven and half feet and weighed 80 pounds.

1959 – The Monroe County Library Association presented the Monroe County Commission with the title to the land and their new Library building at 700 Fleming Street. The land was donated by Karl Thompson and the Association raised the money to build the new Library.

1989 – Members of the Monroe County Citizens Jail Advisory Committee were shocked when a project report said building a new jail on Stock Island would cost $95 million. Monroe County Mayor Pro-tem Gene Lytton said, “For a $95 million jail, I’ll never get reelected.”

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

Image: Aerial view of the Monroe County Jail on Stock Island. Taken on September 1, 1999 by Ty Symroski and Wendy Tucker. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.