May 17

Interior of Shorty's Diner at 215 Duval Street, Key West, September 1988

1861 – Key West Mayor John P. Baldwin was removed from office when Florida officials were removed because of secession.

1941 – The installation of machinery and construction of buildings necessary for processing the pipe for the Florida Keys Aqueduct began at Homestead. Pipe was arriving by train, and 50 men were employed in the preliminary operations.

1951 – More than 50 American and Cuban dignitaries and air enthusiasts dedicated a monument near the corner of Grinnell and Caroline streets to mark the first successful flight by Major Domingo Rosillo from Key West to Havana. The 75-year-old Rosillo attended the ceremony as guest of honor.

1960 – A warning went out to the Key West children who had taken mangoes from the Stutz Hotel & Apartments property at 410 Fleming St. to not eat the fruit. The tree had just been sprayed with the deadly poisons “arsenic of lead and melothene.”

1989 – Shorty’s Diner, an institution on Key West’s Duval Street since 1942, closed. A.J. Galloway, son of the founder, announced he was moving to central Florida and taking a long rest.

1993 – The Monroe County Public Library in Key West held its grand re-opening after a major renovation and addition.

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

Image: Interior of Shorty's Diner at 215 Duval Street, Key West, September 1988. Photo by Richard Watherwax. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.