1921 – Monroe County Sheriff Roland Curry raided the home of Juan Menendez on County Road near the Cortez cigar factory in Key West and seized $2,500 worth of Cuban rum and brandy. Curry estimated the haul was only half of a load of illegal booze that had been smuggled in from Havana.
1923 – A family of sixteen “Gypsies” was being held by Key West immigration authorities, after their arrival from Havana on the steamer Governor Cobb. Though they all claimed to have been born in the U.S., their right to enter was being assessed.
1924 – Alfred Atchison, age 64, died in his home on Olivia Street. Atchison was known by the nickname “Bubba Smart” and was the last man to be called the “King of the Wreckers.”
1929 – The Overseas Highway from the Dade County line to Key West was taken over by the state road department for maintenance. The county had previously maintained the road built with Monroe County bonds.
1934 – Over 1,000 dilapidated books from the Key West High School library were being mended and recovered by women employed by the Civil Works Administration. “This has been a wonderful help to our students, as for the past several years there have been no funds for the replacement of library books,” said Professor Horace O’Bryant.
1952 – Thieves smashed a window at the Marathon Trading Post and made off with $2,000 in cash, travelers checks and government bonds.
1960 – The Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools approved Douglass School for accreditation.
1969 – The National Society of the United States Daughters of 1812 placed markers on the graves of two veterans of the War of 1812, buried in the Key West Cemetery. The markers were placed on the graves of Thomas Romer who was born in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1783 and died in Key West on Sept. 8, 1891, and Alexander Patterson who was born in Stonington, Conn., on Aug. 31, 1791, and died in Key West on May 18, 1870.
2006 – Two endangered American crocodiles were found dead on Sugarloaf Key, both shot between the eyes. The crocodiles were longtime residents of a pond on the island.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Marathon Trading Post in the 1950’s. Copyright Edwin O. Swift Jr. from the archives of Edwin O. Swift III.. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.