November 12
- Florida Keys History Center
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
1898 – Battery B, 1st U.S. Army Artillery, with two officers and 121 men, arrived at the Key West Barracks from Hilton Head, SC.
1907 – A dispute between Monroe County School Superintendent J.V. Harris and saloon owner F. Rippi remained unresolved, and Russell Hall school remained closed due to the proximity of Rippi’s bar. Harris asked the Key West City Council to require barrooms be at least 200 yards from schools and churches.
1940 – Four young Key West women – Rose Whalton, Ruth Whalton, Anna Pitts, and Edwina Martinez – took their vows as nuns in the Sisterhood of the Benedictine Order at the Convent of the Holy Names in San Antonio, Florida.
1975 – Monroe County commissioners ordered County Attorney Paul Sawyer to draft a resolution authorizing Key Largo Transit Service to conduct regular bus service between Ocean Reef Club and Long Key.
1985 – Driver Dick Fullman and crewman Mike Poppa of the powerboat Still Crazy were killed when their vessel struck a wave and sank off Key West while competing in the World Championship Offshore Powerboat Race.
1996 – The Monroe County Commission elected Keith Douglass mayor.
1996 – Key West native and aviation pioneer Steven F. Whalton died on his 96th birthday. He was the third employee of Pan American World Airways.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Steve Floyd Whalton and pilot Ed Musick in front of Pan American plane General New in Key West, ca. 1928. From the Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
