November 5
1906 – During 48 hours over nine inches of rain fell, flooding the lower parts of Key West. The water at the corner of Southard and Margaret streets was over two feet deep.
1935 – Thompson Fish Company announced that they had purchased the Overseas Transportation Company and started freight service from Miami to replace the Overseas Railroad that was destroyed in the hurricane.
1961 – The Key West Players group was spearheading efforts to remodel an old warehouse building at Mallory Square into a theater that they called the Waterfront Playhouse. They planned for the 160-seat theater to be opened in time for the 1962 season.
1974 – Purie Howanitz was elected to the Monroe County Commission.
2001 – A Miami-Dade man escaped to the Keys by car after attacking a man with a hammer. Miami TV news helicopters broadcast his run as he traveled south from Homestead. To try to stop him, Upper Keys spectators threw bricks, rocks, and even a bicycle at the car as he passed. Sheriff’s deputies eventually ended the chase at MM 88.5 by using “stinger spikes.”
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The building on the Mallory Docks now known as the Waterfront Playhouse, before its 1962 restoration. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
