KEYS HISTORY: FIESTA KEY HAD A CAROUSEL OF NAMES
Fiesta Key connects to the Overseas Highway near MM 70. The island has been called a name or two, which is nothing unusual in the Florida Keys.
One...
KEYS HISTORY: UNRELIABLE FERRIES PROMPT ROAD CONSTRUCTION BETWEEN ISLANDS
The Key West Extension of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway did not bring loads of tourists to the island chain. The building of State Road 4A,...
KEYS HISTORY: ISLAND CONFLICTS LEAD TO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
Monroe County has seen significant change over the last 200 years, and has been affected by a few wars. Maybe the first was the Seminole War which...
KEYS HISTORY: TRANSPORTATION EVOLVED FROM PORTS TO TRACKS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a four-part series on Monroe County’s 200th year.
Transportation improvements played a vital role in the development of Monroe County in...
KEYS HISTORY: WRECKING, SPONGING & CIGAR ROLLING WERE THRIVING INDUSTRIES ON THE ISLANDS
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a four-part series on Monroe County’s 200th year.
When the second escalation of the Seminole War erupted in 1835, fear spread...
KEYS HISTORY: FLORIDA’S SIXTH COUNTY IS BORN 200 YEARS AGO
Mathew Perry planted the American flag at Key West in 1822. Commodore David Porter was instructed to establish a military depot on the island the following year...
KEYS HISTORY: FILLING THE GAPS FOR FLAGLER’S RAILROAD TRACKS
The Bahia Honda railroad bridge is one of the iconic sights in the Florida Keys.
Because of its truss design, and the way it was elevated over the...
KEYS HISTORY: ISLAMORADA LIBRARY WAS MORE THAN BOOK SHELVES
Inside and out, the Islamorada branch of the Monroe County Library offers a book-full of local history and more. One of Islamorada’s cultural gems, the historic building...
KEYS HISTORY: WHAT WENT BEHIND THE NAMING OF SUGARLOAF?
Sugarloaf Key was once famously home to the Perky Bat Tower. In 1929, Richter Clyde Perky thought the wooden tower would become home to a colony of...
KEYS HISTORY: FLAGER’S ARRIVAL TO SOUTHERNMOST CITY DIDN’T MARK AN END TO RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION
The right-of-way for the Key West Extension of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway approached the Florida Keys along what is now called the 18-Mile Stretch. It...
