1832 – In the city election Oliver O’Hara was elected Mayor of Key West and George E. Weaver, P.C. Greene and P.J. Fontaine were elected aldermen.
1924 – Key Largo residents wanted rural delivery postal service. With a “fairly good auto road” running the length of the island, they argued a mail route was feasible and would be less expensive than maintaining the several existing small post offices.
1927 – Paul P. Harris, founder of Rotary International, visited Key West with his wife. They met with the island’s Rotarians at the Duval Street home of Key West Rotary President Andrew R. Miller. The couple then departed via train for Miami.
1927 – Sheriff Niles’ zoo near the Monroe County Courthouse was increased with the transfer of a collection of squirrels, monkeys, racoons, rats, parrots, and other birds from the biological station at the eastern end of Key West.
1984 – The Key West Chamber of Commerce issued a unanimous resolution encouraging the visitation of cruise ships. Their stand was a response to “a small, vocal minority who, by their actions, have attempted to discourage visitation of the island of Key West by cruise ships.”
2014 – A study by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission found that 85,000 “ghost” spiny lobster traps and 1 million pieces of traps and other fishing gear junk littered the sea floor within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The post office at the Key Largo community of Planter after the 1906 Hurricane. Copied from George Stevenson Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.