November 26
- Florida Keys History Center
- 1d
- 2 min read
1890 – Key West, with a population of 18,786, was the largest city in Florida. The largest employers were the cigar factories, which employed over 2,000 workers, and sponge fishing, which employed about 100 boats with over 500 men.
1901 – The Key West Board of Aldermen ordered the mayor to appoint a dog catcher and to rigidly enforce the leash law.
1925 – New York City Mayor-elect James J. “Jimmy” Walker visited Key West. He met with Key West Mayor Leslie Curry and toured the island. A motion picture cameraman filmed the visit, and many islanders were expected to be seen when the movies were screened.
1935 – Officials from the Florida Works Progress Administration met with a large group of sponge fishermen to discuss the idea of a cooperative sponge exchange in Key West. By bringing better structure to the industry and finding new ways to market the product, it was thought Keys sponging could be revitalized.
1962 – President John Kennedy, Florida Governor Ferris Bryant, the Joint Chief of Staff and the Atlantic Area Commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy arrived in Key West to review the military installations and troops that had been part of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1985 – The Coast Guard intercepted two vessels off the Yucatan peninsula carrying $5 million worth of marijuana and a pound of cocaine. A Marathon man and a Plantation Key man were amongst the five arrested for intending to bring the drugs into the Keys. They were arraigned and jailed in Key West.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Sponge Fisherman, from an original lithograph by F. Townsend Morgan, ca. 1935. From the Otto Hirzel Scrapbook in the DeWolfe and Wood Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
