1910 – It was said that “the shrill whistle of the locomotives employed by the East Coast railway make sweet music to the inhabitants of Key West as they daily steam up and down the road between here and Boca Chica.”
1939 – The Navy Department announced that the long unused Key West Naval Station would re-open on November 1. The station was to be used to support ships engaged in neutrality patrols of the Atlantic and Caribbean.
1941 – Will Doughtry of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Commission announced that the corner of Jackson Square at the intersection of Thomas and Southard streets had been chosen as the site for the aqueduct’s reservoir and pumping station.
1978 – Indian Key, which was the first county seat of Dade County but now part of Monroe County, was dedicated as a state park.
1989 – Hilario Ramos Sr. died at age 82. He was president of Lopez Wholesale Liquors and had been a founder of Florida Keys First State Bank and Boulevard Bank. He had been active in local, state and national politics and had hosted many dignitaries in his family home known as the Southernmost House at the ocean end of Duval Street.
2023 – Beloved Monroe County Historian Emeritus Tom Hambright died at the age of 85. Hambright was a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and former curator for the Key West Art & Historical Society. He is best remembered, though, for having served for over 35 years as historian for the Florida Keys History Center at the Monroe County Public Library in Key West.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Layton Rice and Tom Hambright at Old City Hall on January 5, 2016. In honor of Tom’s 30 years of service to the community, Key West City Commissioners declared the date “Tom Hambright Day.” Photo by Rob O’Neal. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.