1830 – William R. Hackley recorded in his diary: Rose at a quarter to seven and wrote to Mr. Willis and send him one of the pamphlets containing all opinions. The Schooner Mayflower lay at anchor inside the reef all night. The Brig Enterprise and the Schooner Delta got under weight this morning but the wind was so light they could not stem the tide and consequently had to come to anchor. About 11 A.M. the wind freshened from the southwest and both vessels went to sea. At 2 P.M. the Schooner Milo of Baltimore, Captain Moore, was brought up from the Tortugas by a smack she having got on the shoal but by the assistance of the smack she got off without discharging any of her cargo which was cotton and belongs to Mr. Henry Bond of Tallahassee. Oliver O’Hara desires me to assist Edward Chandler in the case of O’Hara & Company vs. the Brig Halcyon and gave me a fee of three doubloons. The British Brig Two Sisters of Belfast 19 days from Kingston, Jamaica, put to obtain medical aid for the Captain McLean, who is very unwell. Send Mr. Willis by Mr. Davis the knife James Randolph gave me last winter. Commenced reading Maker’s “Livy.” Wind south southwest. Weather pleasant.
1842 – The first Baptist meeting for worship took place when the brethren met at the residence of J.H. Breaker for the purpose of ordaining Brother Charles. C. Lewis to the gospel ministry. As there were no Baptist churches in Florida with which they could be associated, they were accepted in the North Stonington, Conn., Association.
1870 – The Sears School, Key West’s first public school, was established on Free School Lane.
1875 – A number of distinguished Cubans including Key West Mayor Carlos M. De Cespedes met at St. Paul’s Episcopal church and organized St. John’s Episcopal Church in which the services would be held in Spanish.
1949 – President Truman departed for Washington after a three-week vacation at the Little White House.
1977 – In a special run-off election Mary Graham was re-elected to the Key West City Commission.
1996 – Mary Spottswood, the island’s grande dame, matriarch and first lady, died at age 73. Her late husband John had been Monroe County Sheriff, State Senator and owned the Casa Marina and La Concha hotels.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library.
Image: Sears School and teachers, circa 1900. Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.