October 24
- Florida Keys History Center
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
1899 – Miss Carrie Watson returned to Matecumbe Key to take charge of the school there for her third term at the school.
1908 – Dr J.B. Maloney opened the Louise Maloney Hospital on Fleming Street next to the Key West Drug Company. This was the first civilian hospital on the island.
1925 – The Norwegian steamship Capto arrived in Key West via the Panama Canal to discharge a cargo of 5 million feet of lumber from British Columbia. It was one of the largest lumber shipments in island history.
1951 – Monroe County had 5,000 rooms in motels, hotels, rooming houses, and apartments according to a report from the Florida Hotel and Restaurant Commission. The county also had 193 restaurants with 8,291 seats.
1955 – Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wheeler of 1700 Rose Street had the 8,000th telephone in Key West installed in their home.
1962 – The “Today” TV show reported that Key Westers were calm despite the military buildup and threat from the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2010 – Federal Judge James Lawrence King granted temporary custody of the wreck of the 19th century Swedish merchant ship Briggen Hialmar to the Key West-based salvage company Blue Hole Expeditions, headed by Kim Fisher and son Sean Fisher. The wreck was in 16,000 feet of water 650 miles southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Harbor and Bight, and the Florida East Coast Railway piers with multiple steamships docked alongside, ca. 1920. From the Louise White Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
