April 30
- Florida Keys History Center
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
1860 – The USS Mohawk escorted the captured slave ship Wildfire into Key West Harbor. The Wildfire had 510 Africans from the Congo River region who were being taken to Cuba to be enslaved. The Wildfire was in violation of American and international law, and the U.S. Navy was patrolling for violators.
1926 – Construction of the bridge that spanned Similar Sound to connect the Saddle Bunches with Geiger Key was completed. The wooden bridge, which was over a mile long, still needed to be oiled and creosoted before it could be opened to traffic.
1946 – In preparation of its new Key West distribution center, the Gulf Oil Company began construction of four 15,000-gallon tanks at its 0 Duval Street docks along the harbor front.
1966 – Three Key West High School seniors were killed and one critically injured in a car crash on Old Boca Chica Road after the Junior/Senior Prom.
1971 – Governor Rueben Askew appointed Ignatius Lester Circuit Court Judge to fill the unexpired term of the late Aquilino Lopez, Jr.
1980 – Governor Bob Graham ordered the Florida National Guard to Key West and the first unit of a company of military police unit arrived to assist handling the Cuban refugee crisis.
1982 – The establishment of the Conch Republic was getting worldwide attention. Stella Cisneros, Mayor Dennis Wardlow’s secretary, was busy responding to requests about the Conch Republic.
2006 – A solitary flamingo had been living at a salt pond along U.S. 1 on Rockland Key for 10 days. It was the first known flamingo to spend time in the Keys since a pair of juvenile birds were at Boca Chica Key 2 ½ years earlier.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Gulf Oil Corporation tanks at 0 Duval Street along Key West Harbor, 1964. Photo taken by the Monroe County Property Appraiser's office. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
