1852 – Henry Benner, master of the Northwest Channel Lightship, reported that 95 vessels had passed there in the quarter ended June 30: four barks, eight steamers, nine brigs, 40 schooners, and 34 sloops.
1861 – A large, bright comet was seen at Fort Jefferson. “It extended over nearly half of the heavens,” wrote a witness.
1932 – The Key West Citizen, in a front-page editorial, reported to the citizens of Key West that the paper was retrenching because of lost income due to the Great Depression.
1953 – Victor Lang, owner of the Southern Cross Hotel, was named acting Key West City Manager.
1963 – Tom O. Watkins was sworn in as the first Public Defender for Monroe County.
1974 – After three years of development at Patrick Air Force Base, operation “Seek Skyhook” began at the Cudjoe Key Air Force Station. For the two-month mission, a 200,000-cubic-foot aerostat balloon mounted with electronic sensors would conduct environmental monitoring from the north end of the island.
1982 – The United States Supreme Court denied the State of Florida’s claim to 25 percent of the Spanish treasure from the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, found and raised by Mel Fisher.
1994 – The City of Key West reopened Hamaca Park after an eight-month effort to clear invasive Brazilian pepper trees and Australian pines from the last significant natural area of the island.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: “Fat Albert” Blimp (aerostat) on Cudjoe Key in 1974. From the Ida Woodward Barron Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.