1886 – The Knights of Labor held a grand parade and torchlight procession through Key West.
1890 – Captain Hall of the schooner Nocatee arrived at Key West from Cape Sable with two 8-foot crocodiles. Hall sold the “suarians” to Frank Knight, who purchased them on behalf the Smithsonian.
1893 – Jefferson B. Browne took over the office as Collector of Customs. He appointed P.T. Knight as deputy collector, P.E. Thompson as chief inspector and Gus Weatherford as day inspector.
1922 – Monroe County Sheriff Roland Curry seized 16 demijohns of prohibited liquor from behind the Dreamland Café on Stock Island.
1923 – The schooner Eureka arrived at Key West from Marco Island with 95,000 clams on board. The shellfish were to be sent north on a Mallory Line steamship.
1952 – Key West-born pianist William Austin, who had found national success as a member of Louis Jordan’s “Tympany Five” band, returned to visit his parents at their 912 Center Street home, after completing a USO tour. As a boy, Austin had studied piano under Mrs. Ellen Sanchez.
1954 – The Naval Air Station announced the near completion of the $5 million building program that had given the station a new look. The new buildings included a tower & operations building, a “Denver” type hangar, and a supply warehouse.
1993 – Author James Leo Herlihy died in California. He lived in Key West from 1956 to 1972. Two of his best-known books that were made into movies were “Midnight Cowboy” and “All Fall Down.”
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Navy Building One and the Custom House C 1900. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.