1913 – Joseph R. Stirrup accepted the position of assistant foreman at the Cortez Cigar Company in Key West. Stirrup was in the race to be the city’s Captain of Police and with the new appointment would have to cease his campaign.
1917 – The E.H. Gato Cigar Company announced plans for a new, concrete factory building in Key West. Construction was contingent upon voters approving a bond for the purchase of a tract of Gato land at the intersection of Division Street (Truman Avenue) and Salt Pond Road (José Martí Drive) for use as a public park.
1934 – The Key West Historical Society was formed at an organizational meeting at the Key West Library. The officers named were Judge Jefferson B. Browne, president; M.E. Gilford, vice-president; H.T. Hunt Jr., recording secretary; Mrs. S. W. Douglas, treasurer, and Mrs. Wallace B. Kirk, temporary historian.
1948 – A category 3 hurricane passed over Boca Chica Naval Air Station, where a barometer reading of 28.45 and sustained winds of 122 mph were recorded. The storm caused only minor damage in Key West.
1951 – Mayor Louis M.J. Eisner dedicated the new Wickers Stadium before a crowd estimated at 3,000. The Miami Sun Sox and Havana Cubans played the first baseball game in the stadium.
1994 – A dripping-wet Pablo Acuna Escobar, claiming he had just made a three-day swim to escape from Cuba, walked up to the bar at the Reach Resort in Key West and asked for water. Upon investigation, authorities found Escobar had been living in the U.S. since 1980.
2004 – Nearly 500 Truman Annex and Key West Golf Club homeowners sued the City of Key West over regulations that prevented them from renting their properties for less than 30 days. The owners wanted the city to allow short-term rentals and to be compensated for the years in which they were unable to do so.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Men in front of the Cortez Cigar Factory, ca. 1910. Owner Walter S. Lightbourn is in the back row, second from the left. Gift of family. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.