September 28

A dredge working to fill the Gilmore Drive area of Sigsbee Park Navy Housing, 1960.

1899 – The Key West yellow fever report showed 26 new cases and one death.

1920 – A get-together social described as “one of the most enjoyable events of the year” was hosted in Key West by the local chapters of the Royal Neighbors and the Modern Woodmen of America.

1929 – A category three hurricane passed over Key Largo. The lowest barometer reading recorded in the Keys was 27.99. Damage was slight as there was only a small population in the Upper Keys.

1935 – Willie Wickers, “Key West’s singing diver who can dive coins better than Joe Louis can punch,” caught an octopus for the new aquarium, but when he arrived at the facility, the creature was no longer in his bucket. Wickers retraced his steps from the waterfront, found the octopus on the sidewalk, and delivered it safely to the aquarium.

1955 – Two Navy airmen escaped injury when a small but violent tornado struck Boca Chica Naval Air Station and tore two blimps from their moorings and blew them a half a mile into the mangroves with the men inside. Both airships were badly damaged.

1960 – Dredge and fill operations at Sigsbee Park (aka Dredgers Key) were completed, and the construction of 300 new housing units there would begin shortly.

2008 – Florida Atlantic University issued a report recommending that Monroe County should consider sea level rise a greater factor than hurricanes in disaster planning.

Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.

Image: A dredge working to fill the Gilmore Drive area of Sigsbee Park Navy Housing, 1960. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.