September 11
1936 – Monroe County Commissioners considered the budget for the coming fiscal year and could not reach a conclusion. Their difficulty was caused by the fact that the Florida East Coast Railway Company was leaving the Keys and would not pay taxes in the county in the upcoming year.
1946 – In a special meeting, Key West city commissioners authorized the purchase of the Sweeny beachfront property at the south end of Duval Street in Key West for $37,000. The property was to be used as a bathing beach and to provide recreational facilities for the city.
1951 – The 1,000-unit Navy housing project being built on Dredger’s Key was named Sigsbee Park for the late Admiral Charles Sigsbee, who was Commanding Officer of the Battleship Maine when it was destroyed in Havana Harbor in 1898. The Navy Housing project at the old Army Barracks was named Peary Court for Robert E. Peary, who was stationed in Key West in the 1880’s, and later was the
first man to go to the North Pole.
1960 – Because of the extensive damages from Hurricane Donna, President Eisenhower declared the Florida Keys a major disaster area.
1982 – Former Key West Citizen reporter and Lower Keys historian Pat Parks died in California. For 17 years her column appeared three times a week and concentrated on local history and environmental topics.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: South Beach at the end of Duval Street, Key West, ca. 1940. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection in the Otto Hirzel Scrapbook. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
