Thursday, January 3, 2013

ON THIS DAY IN:

1831 Army troops, under the command of Lt. Francis B. Newcomb, arrived on the schooner Thames to establish the Army Barracks at Key West, on the site of the present-day Peary Court Navy housing.

1831 The election for town council was held and the following were elected: Pardon C. Greene, David C. Pinkham, Joseph Cottrell, David L. Wakely, William G. Porter, George Weaver and Robert B. Stanard.

1929Ross G. Sawyer assumed the office of circuit court clerk. He was appointed by Gov. John W. Martin to replace Dave Z. Filer, the former clerk, who was removed from office on the charge of embezzling public funds.

1934 Construction of the Key West Aquarium began with the pouring of the concrete sub-footing. F.W. Knapp, construction engineer in charge, reported that he expected the work to finish on schedule.

1949Ross G. Sawyer, after 20 years of service, stepped down as circuit court clerk and was replaced by Earl Adams, who was elected in the general election.

The City Commission granted a lease to the Key West Charter Boatmen's Association for a portion of Garrison Bight facing North Roosevelt Boulevard.

1959 About 500 Castro supporters sailed from Key West to Cuba on the auto-passenger ferry City of Havana.

1961President Eisenhower broke diplomatic relations with Castro's Cuba.

1967 Heavily armed Cuban and Haitian exiles bent on overthrowing Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier, and then moving on to hit Fidel Castro , were arrested north of Marathon before they could launch their invasion.