Munson Island (Little Palm Island) circa 1920s
1513 – Ponce de Leon named the islands at the western end of the Florida Keys Los Tortugas.
1846 – The ship Russell, from New Orleans to Gibraltar with a cargo of tobacco, went ashore at Pickle’s Reef. Wreckers got the ship off and were awarded $6,700. Some of the cargo was sold to pay for salvage expenses.
1923 – Ground was broken for the construction of the new Douglass School.
1924 – Key West carpenter Edward J. Bayly left for Newfound Harbor Key to begin construction of a five-room bungalow for the owner Newton C. Munson. The structure would have running water and an electric system.
1926 – Monroe County Engineer and County Commissioner Braxton B. Warren completed a drive over the Tamiami Trail, which crossed part of mainland Monroe County. They noted the construction was first-class and when finished, the grade would be 11.5 feet above sea level.
1941 – The proposed Marathon Airport was placed on the U.S. Defense Program’s construction survey list.
1958 – The Mitchell Wolfson Foundation purchased the Audubon House on Whitehead Street.
2012 – To preserve the beloved ocean view, Key West city officials and the Florida Department of Transportation reached an agreement whereby a 9-inch high, 24-inch-wide curb would run along the ocean side of North Roosevelt Boulevard and replace the state’s initial design of a four-foot aluminum fence.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Munson Island (Little Palm Island) circa 1920s. Gift Ann Gardner. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.