October 2
1926 – Key Westers were finding ways to steal natural gas from the distribution pipes throughout town. The problem was so bad in some neighborhoods that the gas company was forced to remove meters and cut off the supply.
1952 – Joe Sirugo announced that construction would commence on the drive-in theater on Stock Island with a planned opening date of January 1, 1953.
1953 – Key West began a program to inoculate all children under 15 years with gamma globulin to prevent the paralytic form of polio. A 25-year-old Navy wife was diagnosed with the non-paralytic form of the disease that was the 35th case for the year.
1956 – Monroe County public schools had 5,712 students enrolled for the year. This was a 6 percent increase over 1955, which had already grown 10 percent from 1954.
1966 – Army Specialist Florentino Roque, a 20-year-old Key Wester of 1429 Johnson Street, was killed in action in Vietnam. Roque was serving his second enlistment and had been wounded twice previously. He was the fifth islander killed in Vietnam in 1966.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The Harris School cafeteria in Key West, headed by Elida Soderberg, 1956-1957. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
