Lightships before lighthouses
The Adams-Onis Treaty incorporated the Florida Territory into the growing United States. The rights to the Florida Reef were also part of the treaty when, though signed...
Masons’ time capsule retrieved before elementary school demolished
Before the final demolition of Stanley Switlik Elementary takes place, the Marathon Mason Lodge 323 helped excavate a time capsule buried in 1971 in one of the...
How the Constellation did not arrive at Indian Key
How does the dissemination of misinformation confuse history? Here is one example: a few decades ago a local newspaper reporter was visiting Baltimore, Maryland. While there, he...
History hinges on a hurricane
Sometimes sons listen to their fathers. If Juan Menendez had listened to his father, Florida history might have been written a little differently. As it so happened,...
The Brilliant Life of David Wolkowsky
1919 August 25 David Wolkowsky is born in Key West.
1919 September 2The Florida Keys Hurricane hits, killing 772 people.
1923 The Great Depression hits Key West, and the...
DRIVING THE KEYS – Upper Keys History
Politician George Allen began advocating for a road to the Keys in 1895. In 1908, residents of Monroe County (and especially Upper Keys farmers) began clamoring for...
POST OFFICES AND TRAGEDY
The first post office in the Florida Keys was established in Key West during the month of February in 1829. The post office was on the corner...
LOOKING FOR TREASURE
Upper Keys History
Tales of buried treasure have been whispered around the Florida Keys since barstool historians first began sipping rum. Actual instances of treasure discovered buried on...
KEYS HISTORY 19-0207
GOING TROPICAL
Upper Keys History
Ann Housman was born in Staten Island, N.Y. on May 1, 1797. She would marry Thomas Gibson on Feb. 4, 1818 at the Staten...
Key lime pie started with ‘hookers’
Chef Stella Parks probably didn’t know she was cooking up controversy when she claimed Key lime pie was inspired by a 1931 Borden Company recipe published from...
