1897 – Mason S. Moreno was named Postmaster of Key West.
1954 – An era in Key West history ended when the Ella Collins was beached and abandoned. The 26-foot boat was the last of the sponging fleet that once numbered more than 100 vessels. The Ella Collins was built in 1902 by William Henry Sands of Big Pine Key, who used native dogwood and yellow pine. Captain Nelson Spencer, 75, had bought the vessel from the builder for $400.
1956 – Vice President Richard Nixon, who was vacationing in Miami, flew to Key West to visit Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Dulles was recuperating from cancer surgery at the Casa Roma Motel.
1964 – Monroe County’s airport consultant Harold Wilde was looking at the feasibility of a “huge” jet airport proposed to be built on bay bottom between Sigsbee Park and Stock Island. Navy officials had not yet expressed an opinion on the project.
1974 – A survey showed lethal yellowing disease was affecting coconut palms from Key Largo to Big Coppitt Key, including Tea Table, Upper Matecumbe and Ramrod keys where it had never been seen before.
1976 – The Old Town Trolley sightseeing operation was sold to the Old Town Key West Development Ltd., of which Ed Swift and Chris Belland were the two general partners.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Vice President Richard Nixon, right, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, center, and Monroe County Sheriff John Spottswood, left, in Key West on November 27, 1956. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.