May 10
- Florida Keys History Center
- May 9
- 2 min read
1823 – There had been no rain at Key Vaca (Marathon) for many weeks and vegetation there was in a “perishing state.”
1925 – William Randolph Hearst was in Key West on his yacht Oneida. His two sons William Jr. and Jack and a group of friends were on board.
1938 – A tornado with winds estimated to 100 mph hit Pirates Cove Fishing Camp on Sugarloaf Key. A car was twisted around and thrown off the road, one small building was destroyed, and the camp’s solar hot water system was ruined.
1946 – Key West Police were investigating a series of supposed shotgun blasts that had come from the City Cemetery. The exact source or reason for the loud noises had not been determined, but it was thought someone was trying out a gun in the graveyard.
1956 – Two Key West political candidates who recently lost their elections were given a demonstration by a representative of the Automatic Voting Machine Company to show how votes recorded by the tallying devices could not be altered without detection.
1982 – A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform reported that the 1980 Mariel boatlift cost American taxpayers more than $1 billion and demonstrated the need for stringent immigration laws.
1985 – The Monroe County Commission approved a plan to four-lane a 7-mile stretch of the U.S. 1 highway in Marathon.
1999 – Key West author and songwriter Shel Silverstein died of a heart attack at his home on William Street. He was 68 years old.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Sam Pinder with a voting machine at his last election as Monroe County Supervisor of Elections on November 5, 1957. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
