March 13
- Florida Keys History Center
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
1911 – The Riley Brothers Construction Company began work on the new U.S. Weather Station at Sand Key, nine miles southwest of Key West.
1929 – Malcolm Meacham, 45, financier and developer who owned the eastern end of Key West, jumped to his death from his 11th floor New York apartment window.
1936 – Someone was stealing the mounded marl fill that formed the backstops at the Southernmost Rifle Club’s gun range on the County Road in Key West. It was estimated that two truckloads of the dirt had been taken.
1953 – Will R. Porter, 82, one of Key West’s most prominent citizens and scion of one of Key West’s pioneer families died in Miami. His father was Dr. J.Y. Porter, Florida’s first health officer, and he was a grandson of William Curry, Florida’s first millionaire. Porter was the former president of Florida First National Bank and at one time was the largest landowner on the island.
1956 – The Cuban ferry the City of Havana sailed for the first time from the West India Fruit and Steamship Company’s new terminal in Toppino Harbor on Stock Island.
1956 – Monroe County Juvenile Court Judge Eva Warner Gibson called attention to an alarming increase in cases of juvenile delinquency. In an average year, she would sentence six to nine offenders to State industrial Schools. But in January and February of 1956, six had already been sentenced – a trend that could see 36 Monroe youth sent to State Schools.
1976 – Visitors were enjoying the three-month-old Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, drawn by the 30 varieties of coral and nearly 300 species of fish that lived in its waters. The new sanctuary adjoined the southern edge of Pennekamp State Park and extended from there to the 300-foot depth contour.
1993 – A fierce winter storm swept thought the Keys uprooting trees, damaging buildings, boats and power lines. The wind reached gusts of 75 m.p.h. at Key West International Airport. The Dry Tortugas reported winds up to 109 mph. The storm also destroyed the “Fat Albert” blimps at United States Air Force Radar Station on Cudjoe Key.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: From left: Juvenile Court Judge Eva Warner Gibson, Mrs. Isabel Fleming, Margie Warner, Rionette Bragassa, Frankie Watson and James Johnson meet in the courthouse on November 6, 1957. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
