1830 – William Hackley recorded his in diary: Rose a little after sunrise and read the “Acts.” I am now reading the “Acts” for the second time to try and ground myself in them tho from the method or rather the want of it in the arrangement of the several heads they are very difficult of understanding and also to refer to. Read Hammond. Drew up a declaration in assumpsit in the case of Fielding A. Browne & Company vs. J.R. Western as I did not like the one as wrote some days since. I inserted two counts in it one for goods sold and delivered and the other for money lent. In the afternoon walked out to get some soap stick a vine that grows in the West Indies and which the inhabitants make use of to clean their teeth an it gets very soft by use and at the same time is tough and does not come to pieces in the mouth. Continued my walk to the lighthouse and set about an hour when I returned. After tea Oliver O’Hara came in and we had a long talk on matters and things. Went to bed about ten. The wind from the northeast but moderate. Weather pleasant.
1873 – The Virginius, flying the American Flag, was captured by the Spanish off the southern coast of Cuba. The ship was carrying weapons and men for the Cuban rebels fighting the Spanish control of the Island. The Virginius was taken to Santiago, Cuba, where the captain and crew were executed which almost led to war between the United States and Spain. The American Fleet was ordered to Key West to protect the country.
1922 – Lord Louis Mountbatten and his bride arrived in Key West and were guests of Captain Crosley, Commanding Officer Naval Station Key West.
1946 – S.H. Kress announced that it would construct a two story building adjoining its store on Duval Street at the corner of Fleming Street.
1950 – A crowd of a thousand lined the streets to view the Halloween parade that had about 500 costumed school children.
1955 – Monroe County shrimp production for 1954 was about 13 million pounds of heads on shrimp with a dockside value of about $4 million.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library
Image: Two men on West Martello watching the Fleet in the harbor past Fort Taylor from Harper’s Weekly of April 18, 1874. Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/15227293772