Today in Keys History – Oct. 8, 2022

1876 – Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Cespedes was elected Mayor of Key West.

1890 – James T. Boyd enlarged his new newspaper “The Key West Advertiser.”

1891 – William S. Allen died in Key West at the age of 68. He had served as Mayor of Key West 1868-69 and again in 1873-74.

1899 – George B. Patterson was named Postmaster of Key West.

1911 – Rear Admiral Lucien Young was ordered from Pensacola to assume command of the Key West Naval Station.

1938 – The Cuban Gunboat General Juan Bruno Zayas arrived with Cuban civic and military officials for the celebration of Grito de Yara.

1953 – Mary Graham was elected president of the Chamber of Commerce, the first woman to hold that position.

1985 – The Monroe County Commission adopted a resolution to name the Islamorada Branch of the Monroe County Library for librarian Helen Wadley.

1996 – Tropical Storm Josephine drenched the Keys with over six inches of rain.

1997 – Former President George H.W. Bush was in the Keys for the annual George Bush bonefish tournament.

1998 – Jeffery Wade Wallace was found guilty of first-degree murder for the killing of Michael Summer, manager of Rumrunners Bar.

1998 – Solares Hill Newspaper, the 22-year-old weekly, was acquired by Thomson Newspapers Inc., publishers of the Key West Citizen.

Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library

Image: Entering the Key West Cemetery on October 10, 1934 for the Grito de Yara service. From the DeWolfe and Wood Collection, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/6315304889