November 11
1890 – Commander J.H. Winn, Commander Naval Base Key West, moved into the newly built commandant’s quarters (now known as the Little White House).
1936 – Key West City Commissioner Wm. R. Porter gave a 30-minute presentation to his colleagues advocating for the extension of an inland waterway from Bahia Honda to Key West and the development of Garrison Bight as a yacht basin.
1940 – County prosecutor Allan B. Cleare Jr. dismissed all charges against Carl Tanzler aka Count von Cosel. Tanzler had been charged with keeping the body of Elena Hoyos Mesa in his home for seven years.
1946 – Earl Pfeiffer of Marathon announced plans to dredge a channel and basin at Boot Key Harbor. The 30-foot-wide channel would continue the natural connection to Boot Key, the basin would be 100 feet in diameter, with both new features four feet deeper.
1980 – Heavy rain began in Key West at about 8 a.m. and continued over the next 24 hours at a rate of about one inch an hour. Flooding occurred throughout the city. One man water-skied down Duval Street behind a red Volkswagen, past a wildly cheering crowd at Sloppy Joe’s.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: A record 23 inches of rain fell in 24 hours in Key West starting on November 11, 1980. Cory McDonald Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
