March 11

1016 Howe St. Key West; destroyed by fire 1974.

1853 – Bowne and Curry successfully tested a marine railway that was capable of lifting vessels of 500 tons.

1907 – The 28th annual meeting of the Florida Press Association was held in Key West.

1909 – Upton Sinclair, author of “The Jungle,” was ill in the Louise Maloney Hospital. He was a passenger on the Mallory steamship Alamo, from Galveston to New York, when he fell sick. After a few days of rest, he was released and sailed for New York.

1941 – A team of FBI agents raided the “Alice Reid House” at 1016 Howe Street in Key West and arrested Reid and her husband, a bartender, and an unnamed soldier on prostitution-related charges. The house was reputed to be a brothel, and a woman had been strangled there a month earlier. 

1948 – The U.S. Secretary of Defense and the chiefs of the three military services arrived in Key West and stayed at the Little White House.

1955 – The new Southernmost Motel on Duval and South streets had 28 of its planned 50 units open, with the rest near completion. The new motel, owned by Ben and Aaron Mazur, had a 25-by-50-foot swimming pool.

1976 – Monroe County commissioners proclaimed that Jewfish Creek in the Upper Keys would be renamed “River Shannon” from March 14 to March 17 in recognition of “St. Patrick’s Week.”

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

Image: 1016 Howe St.; destroyed by fire 1974. Tract 10, Sqr 7, Lot 15 & Pt Lot 14, 16, 17. Photo taken by the Monroe County Property Appraiser's office, ca. 1965. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.