March 30

Aerial View of Lower Matecumbe Key, ca. 1920, showing the route of the railroad.

1877 – Winer Bethel died in Key West. He was a native of the Bahamas and came to Key West in 1847. He was Mayor of Key West from 1872 to 1873. He was also Judge of Probate Court.

1926 – A delegation appointed by the Monroe County Commission traveled to the Matecumbe Keys to help find the best route through those islands for a new highway. Some Matecumbe residents feared land values would plummet if the planned road traversed their properties, and the delegates hoped to ease their minds.

1950 – New York City Mayor William O’Dwyer and his wife Sloan Simpson arrived at the Key Largo Angler’s Club for a fishing getaway.

1976 – Monroe County commissioners approved a $272,050 purchase of 15.61 acres behind the Grant City Plaza in Marathon. The property was to be used for the construction of 50 low-income housing units.

1979 – The U.S. Army announced that the First Battalion of the 65th Air Defense Artillery would leave Key West during the next fiscal year. The unit had 740 military and 10 civilian personnel in Key West. The Air Defense Artillery came to Key West during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962.

1984 – The No. 1 Boat Manufacturing Company on Stock Island completed work on a 75-foot passenger and cargo vessel that was custom built for use in the Bahamas. It was the largest fiberglass boat built in Key West.

1986 – Writer John Ciardi, who had been a winter resident of Key West since 1975, died at his home in New Jersey.

1989 – Former U.S. poet laureate and part-time Key West resident Richard Wilbur was awarded his second Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

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

Image: Aerial View of Lower Matecumbe Key, ca. 1920, showing the route of the railroad. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.