September 5

Alligator Reef Lighthouse (135’), 1934 or 1935.

1861 – Major William H. French issued an order that all male citizens of the island must take an oath of allegiance to the United States within 60 days, or they would be removed from Key West.

1936 – The U.S. Coast Guard cable ship Pequot completed the laying of 23,000 feet of communication cable from Alligator Reef Lighthouse to Lower Matecumbe Key. An earlier cable had been destroyed in the hurricane of September 1935, and the lighthouse had been cut off since then.

1956 – The Florida State Plant Board was working with the City of Key West to understand and control an unidentified blight that was killing coconut palms on the island. An initial remedy was to trim the trees and spray them with a copper solution.

1978 – Regina McMahen received her badge and gun after completing the Florida Police Academy to become the first woman officer on the Key West Police Force.

2001 – A six-month undercover investigation by the Key West Police Department and the State Attorney’s office led to the arrest of four Duval Street T-shirt shop owners for paying U.S. citizens to marry their foreign-born employees.

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

Image: Alligator Reef Lighthouse (135’), 1934 or 1935. Gift of Mrs. Ned McCarthy. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.