November 19

St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 807 Center St.,Key West, ca. 1965; built 1924.

1895 – The Key West sponge schooner Shamrock sank off St. Marin’s Key and six of the 14-man crew were lost.

1924 – The cornerstone of the new St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Center Street in Key West was laid by the Reverend Cameron Mann, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Florida.

1930 – Two cars of racehorses arrived by train at Key West. The animals would be shipped by ferry to Havana for the fall and winter racing season, which began on Thanksgiving day.

1952 – Monroe County became the owner of the Key West International Airport when the deed of sale was filed. The county paid Key West Improvement, Inc., $150,000 for the property. The deed had a restriction that should the property ever be used for anything other than a public airport, the property would revert to Key West Improvement.

1957 – Louis M.J. Eisner and Charles Parra won seats on the Key West City Commission in a run-off election.

1985 – Key West native Lincoln Perry, better known as the actor Stepin Fetchit, died at age 83 in Los Angeles. Perry was born in Key West in 1902 to cigarmaker Joseph Perry and seamstress Dora Monroe.

2015 – The U.S. National Park Service and NOAA signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment to establish a “sister” relationship between the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Dry Tortugas National Park and two protected areas of Cuba.

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

Image: St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 807 Center St.,Key West, ca. 1965; built 1924. Tract 4, Sqr 5, Pt Lot 1. Photo taken by the Monroe County Property Appraiser's office. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.