Lena Johnson, sitting, and her sister May Johnson Douglas
1830 – William R. Hackley recorded in his diary: Rose with the sun and studied my case until court time and went up to court. The case of Theodore Owens & Co. vs. Charles M. Johnson came on today verdict for plaintiff. About 12 I heard a vessel was about to sail for Tallahassee during the day. I came down to my room and wrote to Brother and went and prepared a box containing some seeds &c to send to Sister Mary. About 4 the Sloop Capital sailed for Charleston and William G. Porter went in her, by him I send my watch to be repaired and the letters I wrote Sunday. At ½ past seven attended a meeting of the inhabitants of Monroe County convened for the purpose of asking of the next Legislative Council one third of the sums raised by auction tax in this county for the county purposes and also to remove the necessity of being a householder in order to qualify a man for being a competent juror. Judge James Webb made the motion and drafted the resolutions. There was a good deal of wrangling respecting the resolutions but they carried in form proposed by the Judge. There was a committee of three appointed to draw up a memorial to the council and about 9 the meeting adjourned until Saturday night. Algernon S. Thurston was called to the chair and George Weaver appointed secretary. Wind light from about north by east.
1929 – Lena Johnson, the first woman elected to the Key West City Commission was defeated in her re-election bid by 40 votes.
1946 – President Harry Truman arrived to spend his first vacation at the Little White House. He stayed for a week.
1959 – Hilario “Charlie” Ramos Jr. and Harry Knight were elected to the Key West City Commission in one of the heaviest votes in the city’s history. All other candidates were in a run-off.
1961 – Mr. and Mrs. Jack Daniel purchased the home of the late author Ernest Hemingway for a reported $30,000.
1965 – The Key West City Commission approved a 35-year lease to Key West Hand Print Fabrics for the property on Front Street at the corner of Simonton Street.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library
Image: Lena Johnson seated and sister May Johnson Douglas standing. Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/8100629853