September 7
- Florida Keys History Center
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
1878 – A hurricane that claimed hundreds of lives in Cuba and Haiti passed over the Middle Keys on a due north course that took it over the Everglades.
1917 – Juan Farto, proprietor of the Victoria restaurant, purchased the property at the corner of Duval and Greene streets in Key West where the restaurant stood. The purchase price was $7,800.
1946 – Marathon was growing rapidly: Tourist accommodations were fully booked for the upcoming season, and “draglines, graders, rollers, bulldozers, and trucks were busy clearing ground for further development.”
1956 – The Florida State Board of Conservation released a report stating that 18,275,044 pounds of fish, shellfish, and shrimp were landed in Monroe County in 1955. The catch was led by 13,770,001 pounds of shrimp brought in from the Dry Tortugas area, supplemented by 1,086,436 pounds of Campeche shrimp.
1983 – Jennie Bethel deBoer died at the age of 97. She grew up at the Key West Lighthouse, where her father William Bethel was the keeper for 25 years. During WWI she served in the Navy as a Yeomanette. After the war, she worked for the Key West Citizen for 35 years.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Marathon's Sombrero Beach road under construction and Tingler Island on June 24, 1954. Copyright Edwin O. Swift Jr. from the archives of Edwin O. Swift III. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
