March 8
- Florida Keys History Center
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
1826 – The brig Le Deux Auguste, sailing from Tampico to Bordeaux with a cargo of fustic and hides, ran aground off Key Largo but was able to get off with only the loss of its anchors. The vessel was in a leaky condition afterwards.
1869 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, who had been a prisoner at Fort Jefferson for four years for his role in the assassination of President Lincoln, was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and released.
1907 – Sir William Gray Wilson, Governor of the Bahamas, arrived in Key West as the guest of Henry M. Flagler. The island’s Afro-Bahamian community gave the Governor a reception at the Good Samaritan Hall.
1936 – The Monroe County Commission moved to negotiate with the Florida East Coast Railway Company towards acquiring the railroad’s right-of-way through the Florida Keys. If successful, the County would then use the railroad’s right-of-way and bridges for the Overseas Highway.
1938 – Charles R. Walgreen, owner of the Walgreen drug store chain, was in Key West on the 98-foot yacht Virago.
1976 – On the eve of Florida’s Democratic primary, Alabama Governor and presidential candidate George Wallace made a campaign stop at Key West International Airport. Over 1,500 residents greeted Wallace, who railed against Fidel Castro and called for the revitalization of Key West’s Naval Station.
2006 – The Key West City Commission’s favored location for a new City Hall was Wickers Field at Kennedy Drive and Flagler Avenue, followed by the City Housing Authority building on Kennedy Drive and the existing site at 525 Angela.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A February 1936 photo showing wreckage from the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane around the platform of the Long Key Station, Florida East Coast Railway. Gift of Albert Perez. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.