October 8
1890 – James T. Boyd enlarged his new newspaper “The Key West Advertiser.”
1938 – The Cuban gunboat General Juan Bruno Zayas arrived with Cuban civic and military officials for the celebration of El Grito de Yara.
1956 – William B. “Willie” Smith, who had lived for decades as a recluse in what is now known as the Audubon House, died in a Miami hospital. Smith kept the once-grand home at 211 Whitehead Street shuttered and locked to outsiders while living with no utilities in one upstairs room. He left a safe filled with cash and jewelry to the Convent of Mary Immaculate
1961 – Sam Golan, president of the Key West Golf Club, announced the formation of a committee to study and plan for development of the baybottom surrounding the golf course. Golan envisioned “country club estates, accommodating some 400 to 500 waterfront lots backed up to the golf course.”
1998 – Jeffery Wade Wallace was found guilty of first-degree murder for the killing of Michael Summer, manager of Rumrunners Bar.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: An interior view of the Audubon House after the death of owner Willie Smith and before restoration. The Heritage House Collection, donated by the Campbell, Poirier and Pound families. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
