1888 – A carrier pigeon message service was established by the signal office at Key West. The purpose of the new service was to bring the island into better communication with The Bahamas. General Greely ordered the necessary loft fixtures and training baskets for 500 birds.
1907 – The Key West Chamber of Commerce voted to hire lawyers to prosecute firms using the Key West name on boxes of cigars not made in the city.
1924 – The Key West Board of Public Works began construction of a seawall along Bayview Park’s shorefront, from Division Street (Truman Avenue) to Virginia Street. A public “swimming pool” would then be dredged alongside.
1958 – Plantation Key was being used as the base of operations for the filming the feature movie “Secret Cargo.”
1994 – Members of an anti-Castro paramilitary group were arrested in a 23-foot fishing vessel off Marathon. The three men were carrying five fully automatic firearms, 25 handguns and rifles, silencers, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, all of which they intended to smuggle into Cuba.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Key West Cigars, Cuban Make, cigar box label design copyright 1898 by Schmidt & Company, New York. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.