1909 – Charles S. Johnson purchased property at the corner of Duval and Fleming streets, where he planned to construct a new concrete building for his pharmacy business. His earlier drug store at 109 Duval had recently been destroyed by fire.
1914 – Nelson Francis de Sales English died in Key West at the age of 66. He had worked for the post office for more than 20 years and served as postmaster of Key West from 1882 to 1886, the only Black man to hold that office. He was also a talented musician and, with his friend Frank Welters, founded the famous Welters Cornet Band.
1940 – Karl Tanzler was arrested when it was discovered that he had kept the body of Elena Hoyos Mesa. Tanzler had been employed at the Marine Hospital as an X-ray expert technician when Hoyos was admitted with tuberculosis, from which she later died. She was first buried in the cemetery, but he later removed the body to his home.
1987 – A majority of Monroe County voters said no to a referendum that proposed a one-cent sales tax for capital improvements.
2004 – A Key Largo man was tried in the Plantation Key courthouse on animal cruelty charges after he trapped a neighbor’s cat and attempted to feed it to his pet python.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Johnson’s Drug Store, ca. 1890. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.