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The military history of Key West encompasses a broad span of history of military involvement in the United States' southernmost city of Key West, the most prelevant of which being a substantial increase of naval operations and U.S. military installations during the American Civil War and Soviet-United States tensions of the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War. As of 2024, U.S. Navy aircrafts operating within the Naval Air Station Key West (NAS) conduct air-to-air combat training and routine Joint task force missions with the U.S. Coast Gaurd in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean sea.

In 1766, British governor of East Florida recommended the establishment of a military post in Key West for the British Armed Forces to have increased control of its surrounding areas. The post was never installed. In 1821, John W. Simonton lobbied Washington for the installment of a naval base on Key West upon purchasing the island from Juan Pablo Salas of St. Augustine. In 1822, U.S Naval officer, Matthew C. Perry, sailed into the Key West harbor and claimed the island on behalf of the U.S. government. While Florida had succeeded and joined the Confederate States of America in 1861, Key West remained a member of the U.S. Union due to control of its naval base. Fort Zachary Taylor, constructed in 1845, had been a major military outpost in Key West during the Civil War. Key West served as an important point for military fortifications and coastal defense installments, with the most notable of these including Fort Jefferson and the East and West Martello Towers. Key West later became a major center of refuge for migrant Cubans during the Ten Years' War from 1868 to 1878. An influx of more than 14,000 ships carrying soldiers, sailors, laborers, and tourists came through the island's harbor during World War II.

With the beginning of the Cuban Missle Crisis in 1962, Key West became a significant location for the installation of missle defense systems and military personnel in the event of a sudden attack from Cuba. In his speeches regarding Fidel Castro, President John F. Kennedy often used the phrase "90 miles from Cuba" in reference to Key West's close proximity to Cuba.

Key West currently holds a variety of utilities used by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard fighter and rescue squadrons for exercises and unit level training within its NAS. The island is also a major control point and operations center for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Air National Guard and Army National Guard units, along with other federal agencies, and allied military forces. Key West also includes numerous tenant commands, naval facilities, and auxiliary annexes.

Pre-Colonial and colonial era (1763-1826)[edit]

With the British taking control over Florida from Spain in 1763, Key West remained mostly uninhabited. Smugglers and pirateers often used the island to conceal valuables; Bahamians and Cubans often visited for fishing and other various forms of resource manufacture.

In 1766, British Major General and East Florida governor, James Grant, proposed the idea of establishing a military base on Key West in order to further regulate any activity in its surrounding areas. Grant often urged that a post or settlement on Key West would be ideally situated for trade with Havana and have a strategic advantage point in the case of a war, however, nothing came of his plea. After observing fleets of about 30 Cuban and 14 Bahamian fishing vessels in the Florida Keys, Grant became insistent on preventing the intrusion of foreign vessels, as he feared their presence could threaten British control of Florida. Grant consisted of no means to prevent the situation. The island saw an increase in inhabitance following the War of 1812, with fishermen from New England possibly settling in the areas surrounding Key West, including a brief settlement on the island of Key Vaca.

On January 19, 1822, American businessman John W. Simonton of Alabama purchased Cayo Hueso (Key West) from Royal Spanish Navy Artillery officer, Juan Pablo Salas (who had acquired the island from a Spanish Land Grant in 1815) for $2,000. Simonton and his friend, John Whitehead, had been interested in the island's strategic location within wide shipping lanes through the Straits of Florida and its deep water ports. Upon acquiring the island, Simonton began lobbying for the construction of a military base in order to prevent piracy.

On March 25, 1822, Lt. Mathew C. Perry commandeered the USS Shark, a schooner armed with 12 guns, sailed into Key West, and formally claimed the island as de facto property of the United States. Upon claiming the island, Perry renamed Key West to Thompson's Island and its harbor Port Rodgers in honor of Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson and War of 1812 hero and President of the Navy Supervisors Board John Rodgers. In 1823, Commodore David Porter of the USS Firefly, the flagship of a five-ship squadron tasked with the disruption of British trade in the West Indies, was granted control over Key West. With a large portion of wealthy merchant fleets operating through the island's ports, the waters of Key West became a significant point of interest for pirates to prey on shipping lanes. Key West's Naval base was established in 1823 (in what is now known as Mallory Square) in order to avert the theft of the island's merchant vessels. Porter, who ruled Key West under martial law as a military dictator, was delegated the assignment of counter-piracy and control over the island's surrounding slave trade.

Following the signing of the Adam-Onis Treaty by Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, and Foreign Minister of Spain, Luis de Onis, in 1819, thousands of tracts of coral and Atlantic shallows offshore of the Florida Keys (what now makes up the Florida Reef), was made an extension of U.S. soil. "An Act to Protect the Commerce of the United States, and Crimes of Piracy" was signed into law and authorized by President James Monroe to create a special unit of the Navy, that would be known as the West Indies Squadron, to combat piracy and the slave trade in the waters surrounding Key West and the Florida Keys. Commodore James Biddle was named the squadron's first commander and was assigned a fleet of 14 ships. Biddle employed mostly heavy-drafted ships that proved to be ineffective in the pursuit of pirates who favored shallow-drafted vessels for agile navigation in the shoals and reefs of the West Indies.

On April 2, 1822, the HMS Macedonian left Boston to join Commodore Biddle's West Indies Squadron to guard U.S. merchant shipping and suppress piracy. During its deployment, seventy-six of the Macedonian officers and men died, seventy-four of which were attributed to yellow fever.

Secretary Smith Thompson replaced Biddle with Commodore Porter on December 22, 1822, and was formally appointed “to command the vessels-of-war of the United States on the West India station… for the suppression of piracy.” Porter organized his command of 10 Chesapeake Bay schooners and 5 swift shallow-drafted vessels referred to as the “Mosquito Fleet”. Porter established his military depot and squadron's headquarters in Key West on April 6, 1823, and referred to it as Allenton in honor of Lieutenant Allen of the Schooner Alligator. In 1831, Porter noted the strategic value of Key West's military outpost by stating:

"The advantages of Key West's location as a military and naval station has no equal except Gibralter. ... It commands the outlets of all trade from Jamaica, the Caribbean Sea, the Bay of Honduras, and the Gulf of Mexico, and is a check to the naval forces of whatever nation may hold Cuba." —C ommodore David Porter, Florida's past: People and Events That Shaped the State, Volume 2, chapter 30 , page 121

Porter was court-martialed after invading the town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico and resigned from the U.S. Navy on August 18, 1826.

American Civil War and 19th century conflicts (1861-1898)[edit]

Civil War[edit]

Florida succeeded from the United States Union on January 10, 1861. While Florida had officially withdrawn from the Union and joined the Confederacy on February 28, 1861, Key West remained in the hands of the Union due to control of its naval base for the duration of the war. Construction of the Fort Zachary Taylor, began in 1845 and was built at the southwest tip of Key West after the War of 1812 as part of the "Third Tier System of Defense Fortifications plan" to defend the southeast coast of the United States. Designed by U.S. Army Col. Joseph Gilmore Totten and Col. Simon Bernard, the fort was built with a large gunpowder magazine at either end of the barracks and was supported by two artillery batteries, Martello Towers, which now exist today as the Martello Gallery-Key West Art and Historical Museum. Prior to the Civil War, increasing concerns of a conflict with the South prompted government officials to organize a seizure of Fort Taylor from Florida's possesion.

On December 11, 1860, Lieutenant Colonel Lorenzo Thomas of the U.S. Army, disturbed by the Union's vulnerable position in Key West, reported in the Official Record of the Union and Confederate Armies that:

"The present condition of affairs in this State indicates very clearly that Florida, by the act of her people, will succeed from the Federal Government. I have reliable information that as soon as the act is committed an attempt will be made to seize upon Fort Taylor. I therefore request instructions on what I am to do- endeavor at all hazards to prevent Fort Taylor being taken or allow State authorities to have possession". — Lieut. Col. L. Thomas, The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, chapter 4, page 342

At midnight on Sunday, January 13, 1861, three days after Florida's succession, Captian James M. Brennan of the 1st U.S. Artillery Regiment transported 44 of his men from the Key West Barracks to Fort Taylor to secure their position from the Confederates. Brennan later sent a message to Washington requesting reinforcements and the presence of at least one or two warships in the harbor. Key West later became an important outpost for supressing blockade runners, with the Union Navy utilizing their srategic position as an operations headquarters for their East Gulf Blockading Squadron. For the duration of the war, Key West stood as a stronghold for the Union's prevention of resource transport to the Confederacy through South Florida. 199 ships were captured by the blockade. Key West's salt production industry was temporarily shut down by the Union after in increase in Confederate sympathizers smuggling the product to the south.

Construction of the U.S. military coastal fortress, Fort Jefferson on Garden Key (70 miles west of Key West), began in 1845 after a survey conducted by Commodore John Rodgers in 1829 stated that a military outpost in the Dry Tortugas would provide a strong naval advantage within the Gulf Coast. With the beginning of the Civil War, 62 men of Major Lewis Golding Arnold's Second U.S. Artillery Regiment were transferred to the fort to prevent it from falling into rebel hands. A drill on January 26, 1861, was performed by the fort's Superintending Engineer, Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, to test the integrity of the post's artillery. The weapon's capabilities proved disappointing, as it took twelve primers to fire two rounds. The vessel, Brooklyn, anchored briefly on Garden Key on February 2 to unload twelve mountain howitzers before traveling to Pensacola. 160 soldiers of Col. Bill Wilson's 6th New York Infantry Regiment was transferred to Fort Jefferson on July 4, 1861. New York soldiers were relieved in March of 1862 when the 7th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry arrived under the command of Col. Haldimand S. Putnam. New Hampshire soldiers were relieved in June of 1862 with the arrival of the 90th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment under the command of Lt. Col. Louis W. Tinelli. New York soldiers were replaced with the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in December of 1862. Two years later, the 110th New York Volunteer Infantry arrived in March of 1864.

Post-Civil War era[edit]

10 Years' War[edit]

Spanish-American War[edit]

Early 20th century conflicts (1917-1945)[edit]

With the beggining of the 1900s, Key West's Naval station became the headquarters for Florida's Seventh Naval District. A mass amount of military supplies and personnel were allowed to be easily transported to Key West following the completion of Henry Falger's Florida East Coast Railway (F.E.C.), connecting Key West by railway for the first time in the island's history.

World War I[edit]

Key West's Naval stations saw extensive expansion with the onset of the First World War. A year after the outbreak of WW I in 1915, the Naval Station on Boca Chica Key included 101 acres, 55 buildings, coal sheds with a 50,000-ton capacity, a machine shop, a marine railway with a 750-ton capacity, a small hospital, and 100 to 300 personnel of civilian workforce. A landfill was used for the construction of Key West's Flemming Key to hold a number of the island's military installations. On July 13, 1917, 3 months after the United State's entry into WW I, land rented from the F.E.C Railway, what is now known as Trumbo Point, was used for the construction of a new coastal air patrol station. The land consisted of a dredging contract with 134 acres of landfill pumped up from the water's bottom. On September 22, a Curtis N-9 seaplane was piloted by U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Stanley Parker and was logged as the first naval flight from Key West. Numerous U.S. Naval destroyers, submarines, submarine chasers, and patrol vessels conducted training and patrol operations off the coast of Key West from the Naval Station and from a Section Base in downtown near Duval street.

On December 18, 1917, the establishment of Key West's Naval Air Station was commissioned with Lt. Parker as commanding officer. The base soon became a major center for U.S. Naval aviation training and was equipped with a fleet of seaplanes and blimps. The station also trained about 500 naval aviators during the war. Trumbo Point was later constructed with numerous station buildings, seven seaplane hangars, one large blimp hanger, three seaplane ramps, a hydrogenerator plant (to make hydrogen gas for the blimps), and barracks. An early submarine base on Key West was established in the Fort Taylor Annex (what is now known as the Truman Annex). Thomas Edison resided in a home on the base for 6 months while perfecting 41 weapons for the US war effort and developing underwater ordnance for the Navy. The base was assigned the task of supplying U.S. fleets with oil and blocking German Naval vessels from reaching Mexican oil supplies.

Interbellum period[edit]

With WW I coming to an end in 1918, Key West's submarine and air station were decommissioned with multiple buildings at the Trumbo Annex being dismantled. Military activity in Key West greatly decreased following the end of the war, with the island's facilities mainly being used for minor seaplane training. A radio wireless station was established in the Truman Annex and was used by the Navy throughout the 1920-30s. A project initiated in 1917 to construct a submarine basin on the island's harbor was finished in 1920 and saw frequent use with the beginning of the 1940s. Military activity in Key West slowly re-emerged with an increase in sightings of German U-boat presence off the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys.

In 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service merged with the Coast Gaurd, establishing the island's Captain of the Port Key West.

World War II[edit]

With the onset of the Second World War in 1939, roughly 3,000 allied merchant vessels and supply convoys were intercepted by German U-boats throughout the Gulf Stream within the mid-Atlantic, wherein a large gap in air power threatened the safety of numerous vessels traveling off the coast of Florida. A large majority of German submarine operations occurred so close to Key West that locals often reported witnessing the burning wreckage of allied cargo and military freighters from the island's shore. In 1942, a total of 47 ships were torpedoed by German U-boats off the coast of Key West. On October 14, 1939, American Navy headquarters at Washington ordered for the reopening of operations at the Naval Base Key West. The base became a significant station for destroyers, submarines, surface patrol craft, patrol seaplanes, PBYs, and patrol blimps to conduct numerous anti-submarine operations offshore. In December of 1940, the Naval station recieved three submarines to aid patrols over critical oceanic junctures. The island's harbor was under frequent patrol by various warships, tugboats, minesweepers, and minelayers to improve defense fortifications. Roughly 3,460 Mark VI mines were planted in the waters north and west of Key West.

Meachum Field (located in what is now known as Key West International Airport) was constructed as an additional satellite facility in 1940 to support blimps running anti-submarine patrols. In the same year, personnel from the Atlantic Fleet Sound School in New London, Connecticut, were transferred to the Naval Station, Key West, to create the Fleet Sonar School in the Truman Annex, tasked with training sonar operators to wage anti-submarine warfare against German hostiles. Monroe County later granted fixed-wing Army aircrafts access to the county airport on Boca Chica Key to support war efforts. Military installations on Key West (A majority of which occurred on Boca Chica Key) saw rapid growth following the onset of WW II, with Naval presence on the island increasing from 50 to 3,000 acres. A 134-mile-long water pipeline extending throughout the Florida Keys was built by the Navy to bring fresh water supply from the mainland to many of Key West's bases. In total, the Navy spent over $70 million in millitary fortifications and $7 million in defense projects in Key West with more than 882 merchant vessels passing through the island's harbour daily. On December 9, 1941, 75 army trucks carrying 1,500 soldiers moved into Key West, marking the largest movement of military personnel in the island's history.

Following the Japanese suprise attack on the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour in 1942, wartime efforts in Key West were amediatly resumed with the United States' entry into WW II. Only 4 days after the U.S. declared war on Japan on December 12, 1942, Operation Paukenschlag, commanded by Karl Doenitz, was ordered by Adolf Hitler to begin an extensive U-boat campaign within the American coasts, a large portion of which occuring offshore Key West. Blackouts were frequently imposed by the Navy in order to prevent warships from being identified. A practice blackout conducted on Janurary 11, 1942, formed a 300-mile-long stretch of darkness from Stuart, Florida, to Key West along the Florida coastline. On Febuary 6, 1942, the Gulf Sea Frontier (GSF), a U.S. Navy command tasked with defending the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, was headquartered in Key West. On the night of July 18, 1943, a K-74 navy blimp engaged in battle with a U-134 German submarine forty miles southwest of Key West. It was listed as the island's first Naval engagment during WW II.

In March of 1945, the airfields of Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Boca Chica and the Naval Auxiliary Air Station Boca Chica were combined and officially designated as the U.S. Naval Air Station, Key West, which revieved twelve additional long-range bombers upon its designation.

Cold War era (1947-1989)[edit]

Post-WW II era[edit]

Following the end of WW II, Submarine Squadron 4 was transferred its operations from Pearl Harbour to Key West in August of 1945 as part of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The squadron was assigned commanding officers, Captains Edward S. Hutchinson and Lawrence Randall Daspit, respectivly. The base was equipped with a fleet of one Fulton-class submarine tender, the USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16), one Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship, the USS Petrel (ASR-14), and a Balao-class submarine, the USS Clamagore (SS-343), which served as the squadrons flagship from January of 1946 to August 1, 1959.

As relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union deterioted with the beggining of the Cold War, President Harry S. Truman made 11 trips to Key West to organize military defense plans while staying at the Harrt S. Truman Little White House in the Truman Annex. In March of 1948, Truman met with the Chiefs of the Armed Forces and the Department of Defense in Key West to discuss military fortification plans, known as the Key West Agreement. The agreement gave the Navy, Army, and Air Force in increase of control over thier aviation assets for reconnaissance, medical evacuation, and other tactical functions for the island's defense. Beggining in the 1950s, more than 20,000 naval personnel and over 3,000 sonar operators were trained in Key West. Important factors such as the island's advantageous water and climate conditions allowed for submarine operations to be conducted year round with minimal cancalations; Key West's stable water temperatures made sonar conditionals fairly predictable.

With the establishment of Fidel Castro's regime after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, growing concerns over Soviet activity in Cuba led government officials to direct operations from south Florida military installations such as Homestead Air Force Base, Opa Locka Marine Air Station, and the various U.S. Navy facilities in Key West.

Cuban Missile Crisis[edit]

On October 14, 1962, two CIA-modified U-2 survaillence planes captured 928 photographs

Late Cold War / Post-Cold War / Present day era (1989-2019)[edit]

Notable installations[edit]

Facilities[edit]

Naval Air Station Key West
US Navy Joint Task Force
Straw Hat Beach
US Navy Morale Welfare & Recreation
USCG Station Key West
US Coast Guard Sector Key West
NAS Warehouse

Auxilary Annexes[edit]

Truman Annex
Trumpo Point Annex
Sigsbee Park Annex
Naval Branch Health Clinic Key West

Tenant Commands[edit]

References[edit]

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Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/967/History
https://www.kwahs.org/
https://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.org/key-west/military-history
https://www.cnic.navy.mil/Regions/cnrse/installations/nas_key_west/

Category:

Draft AfC submissions

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Colonial period

Theories

The Ferrel cell, also known as the mid-latitude cell, is a mid-latitude atmospheric convection cell and features sinking air near 30° latitude, bringing temperate surface air poleward, and ascending near the poles at around 60° latitude before diverging westward towards the equator. The convection of the Hadley Cell includes the flow of low-pressure air southwards at the Horse latitudes, creating a secondary circulation feature thats contains a reverse airflow to the Hadley and Polar cells. Unlike the Hadley and Polar systems, the convection of Ferrel Cell is not driven by temperature, but rather by the convergence of the opposing equatorial and polar circulations, in which this effect can be analogous to an eddy created by the converse cells. The convergence of of the Ferrel and Polar Cells near the Polar regions at around 60° latitude creates the Polar front, where the convergence of cold polar and warm mid-latitude air creates a stationary front and sharp temperature gradient between the two air masses of both cells.

Within the high altitude areas, near the Tropopause, of the Ferrel and Polar Cell's convergence zone, are areas of high-altitude winds caused by the large temperature differences between the upper air masses in the adjacent cells, where fast horizontal wind speeds are known as the Jet stream. The location of a Jet stream between the Ferrel and Polar Cell is known as the Polar Jet stream, and is conducive to strong storm systems between the 45-60° latitude.

At the surface, Earth's rotation induces an apparent diversion of the cell's poleward winds to the east due to the effects of the Coriolis force. In the upper atmosphere of the Ferrel Cell, the air moving towards the equator deviates west. The deviation of both of these circulations results in a broad region of prevailing winds, in which the prevailing Westerlies can be found beneath the Ferrel Cell. The Ferrel Cell was theorized by William Ferrel while demonstrating the tendency of rising warm air to pull in air from the equator and transport it poleward due to the effects of the Coriolis force.

Green (golf)

Key West
	An October 2002 NASA image of Key West from space
Geography
Location	Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates	24°33′55″N 81°46′33″W / 24.565176°N 81.775794°W
Archipelago	Florida Keys
Area	4.2 sq mi (11 km2)
Length	4 mi (6 km)
Width	1 mi (2 km)
Highest elevation	18 ft (5.5 m)
Highest point	Solares Hill, 18 ft (5.5 m) above sea level
City
	Aerial view of Key West (2006) Southernmost point buoy Ernest Hemingway House Key West Lighthouse Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park Duval Street with St. Paul's Episcopal Church (2004)
	Flag Seal
	Nickname(s): "The Conch Republic" ; "Southernmost City in the Continental United States"
	Motto: One Human Family
	Location in Monroe County and the state of Florida
	U.S. Census Bureau map showing city limits
	Key West Location of Key West in Florida Key West Key West (the United States)
	Coordinates: 24°33′18″N 81°46′55″W / 24.55500°N 81.78194°W
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Monroe
Government
• Type	Commission–Manager
• Mayor	Danise "Dee Dee" Henriquez
• Commissioners	Monica Haskell, ; Lissette Carey, ; Samuel Kaufman, ; Mary Lou Hoover, ; Donald "Donnie" Lee, and ; Aaron Castillo
• City Manager	Brian Barroso
• City Clerk	Keri O'Brien
• City Attorney	Ronald J. Ramsingh
Area
• Total	7.21 sq mi (18.67 km2)
• Land	5.60 sq mi (14.50 km2)
• Water	1.61 sq mi (4.17 km2)
Elevation	5 ft (2 m)
Population (2020)
• Total	26,444
• Density	4,722.99/sq mi (1,823.44/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	33040, 33041, 33045
Area codes	305, 786, and 645
FIPS code	12-36550
GNIS feature ID	0294048
Website	cityofkeywest-fl.gov

Geography of New Hampshire
Region	Northeast United States ; New England
Coordinates	43°30′N 71°24′W / 43.5°N 71.4°W
Area
• Total	54,555 sq mi (141,300 km2)
• Land	86.4%
• Water	13.6%
Borders	Quebec; Maine; Vermont; Massachusetts
Highest point	Mount Marcy, 5,343 feet (1,629 m)
Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean, sea level
Longest river	Hudson River
Largest lake	Lake Erie

*So Far...*
Author	Kelsey Grammer
Audio read by	Kelsey Grammer
Language	English
Subject	Performing Arts; Television;
Genre	Memoir
Publication date	1995
ISBN	0-525-94041-3

A putting green on the 12th hole in Ridgefield, Connecticut surrounded by hazards

In golf, the putting green, or simply the green, is an area specifically prepared for putting. On a golf course, the green is defined as an open space of smooth turf at the end of the fairway containing the hole. The green is distinguishable by its level surface and smoothest possible texture, manageable by greenskeepers often through methods of mowing or rolling. Contrary to the to the courser rough surrounding the bounds of the fairway, the green contains short-cut grass ideal for the play of a stroke of the eponymous "putter" club. In the rules of golf, the dimensions and distance of a putting green vary and often constitutes the determination of par through the length of each hole from the teeing ground to the green. The placement of adjacent hazards positioned near slopes or ridges along the putting area contributes to the use "reading" to determine the degree of influence of the terrain on the green while putting.

In links, the usage of "double greens", sharing the same surface of the green for two separate holes, can seen in course such as St Andrews in Scotland; "dual greens" in Japan uses two separate putting greens for a single hole, enabling its usage throughout country's alternating climate.

Features

History

Putting

So Far... (book)

So Far... is a 1995 autobiography written by American actor Kelsey Grammer. It was originally published by the Dutton division of the Penguin Group on November 1, 1995. The book was the subject of a lawsuit in 1995 based on allegation's from Grammer's former ex-girlfriend, who claimed the book contained private and invasive material written about her.

Background

At the time of writing, American television sitcom Frasier had aired its second season on NBC. Kelsey Grammer had received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane in both the titular spinoff Frasier and its successor sitcom Cheers. In 1995, the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, wherein Grammer voiced character Dr. Frankenollie. For his role in Frasier, Grammer would received 10 Primetime Emmy Award, and won four Emmy Awards out of eleven nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, two Golden Globe Awards out of eight nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy), and was was nominated twice for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in his portrayal on Cheers.

Three years prior to the book's publication, Kelcey Grammer married former exotic dancer, Leigh-Anne Cushany, in 1992. They later divorced in 1993 following a file for an annulment and eviction from Grammer while Cushany was three-months pregnant. Grammer claimed she had been abusive and threatened to kill him and herself. Grammer wrote in the autobiography:

"To be sure I'd never leave her, [my wife] Leigh-Anne . . . had to convince me that I was nothing--unattractive, untalented, undeserving of love, and incapable of being loved by anyone but her. The way she achieved this was to break me down with verbal abuse. "You fucking pig." "What a wimp." "Dickless." "Fag." "Prick." "Bastard." "You're so fucking stupid." "You're so fucking ugly." These were the verbal tools, but she had more. She'd spit in my face. Slap me. Punch me. Kick me. Break glasses over my head. Break windows. Tear up pictures of my loved ones. Threaten to kill me, kill herself. Cut my balls off. Chop me up. Put a bullet in my head".

In 1993, Cushany attempted suicide via the consumption of Tylenol and aclohol, resulting in a miscarriage.

Only a year before the books publication, Grammer ended a brief engagement with Tammi Baliszewski, whom he met the same at a bar in Manhattan Beach, California.

In 1995, the same year of the book's publication, Kesley Grammer was accused of statutory rape of his child's underaged babysitter. Grammer stated there were no basis to the claims and denied the accusation, while a grand jury chose not to indict the actor, stating: "The young woman's delay of more than a year in pressing charges against Mr. Grammer made it difficult to support her claim."

Content

So Far... is written as an autobiography based on Kelsey Grammer's memories from his adolescence to his then current acting career on the set of Frasier in 1995. In his "Author's Note", Grammer states that he had retracted the names of numerous people he had previously worked with or known, stating: "Although it is implied in autobiography, I would like to emphasize that everything in this book is told from my perspective and my own memories, and of course there are always two sides to a story", and adding: "In some cases I had changed the names of people who played a role in my past, but in all cases I have taken care to recount my experiences fairly and accurately".

The book is dedicated to Kelsey's sister, Karen Grammer, who was was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Colorado Springs, Colorado by spree killer Freddie Glenn in 1975. The books opening reads: "And so, I dedicate this book to Karen Elisa Grammer. Karen, if I haven't done it all, I promise I will still keep trying".

References

Footnotes

Sources

Hemingway on Fishing

Hemingway on Fishing is a collection of writings from American novelist Ernest Hemingway, published posthumously based

Geography of the Florida Keys

The Florida Keys

GIMBAL

The GIMBAL video is a visual recording captured by a Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) targeting camera

from United States Navy fighter jet

Tic Tac (UFO)

"FLIR" video, Nov 2004

The Tic Tac was an unidentified flying object (UFO) reported by United States Navy fighter pilots David Fravor, Alex Dietrich, and two weapons systems officers in November of 2004. A visual recording of the object was captured using Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) targeting cameras and was officially declassified by the Pentagon in 2020 as part of the four Pentagon UFO videos, initially publicized as depicting "unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP)" in December 2017. The object was subsequently coined the "Tic Tac" by a second wave of fighters, later explained to be partially inspired by a joke in the 1980 comedy Airplane! The encounter has often been referred to as the Tic Tac UFO incident or the USS Nimitz UFO.

Background

The sighting

End of the American frontier

The gradual end of the American frontier was a transitional period, primarily between late 19th and the early 20th century, during which the frontier era and its largely unsettled Western territories were officially considered "closed" by the United States federal government. Numerous dates are used to define the definitive end of this period, however, the 1890 U.S. Census is notably cited for proclaiming that the frontier region of the United States had no longer existed and that American westward expansion had been largely completed. However, the point in which the cultural elements that occupied the "American frontier", including the central ethos of the "free-living" cowboy and the open range cattle drives, had passed remains disputed. The admission of the Arizona Territory into statehood in 1912 is often characterized as marking the end of the "Wild west", as the event concluded the America's last territorial expansion into the contiguous United States; the 1910s are regarded amongst popular culture and historians to be the conclusive end to the "American frontier" as a whole. Three years after the U.S. Census Bureau's closure of the frontier, historian Frederick Jackson Turner built his 1893 Frontier thesis, recognizing the formation of American frontiers and its influence on the culture of American democracy.

Geography of Table containing a list of modernist novelsNew Hampshire

The U.S. state of New Hampshire lies in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. Bordering Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, as well as Maine and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north, it is the seventh-smallest state by land area. Nicknamed "The White Mountain State" and "The Granite State", it contains the White Mountain National Forest, preserving thousands of acres of at-risk forest land, and is known for its abundance of granite quarries within the White Mountains subrange of the northern Appalachians. It is estimated to have a population of 1,377,529 as of 2020, making it the 4th most populous state in New England.

Manchester is New Hampshire's most populous city and tenth-most populous city in New England with 115,644 people, making up part of the region's Greater Boston metropolitan area. The state capital is Concord, within the within the Merrimack River watershed of south-central New Hampshire. The state's main geographical features include largely mountainous and heavily forested terrain, containing the highest percentage of timberland area in the United States. The second-most forested U.S. state of 84.32% coverage, New Hampshire has a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and is covered by northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests. The state's 18 miles (29 km) long coastline along the Gulf of Maine within the Atlantic Ocean makes it the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States. New Hampshire is generally divided into three distinct topographical regions: Coastal Lowlands, Eastern New England Uplands, and the White Mountains, wherein roughly 500 species of animal and plant wildlife are sustained.

New Hampshire consists of 221 towns, 13 cities, and 22 unincorporated areas, and a total of 234 municipalities. The state's climate experiences wide variations in temperature both daily and seasonally, largely due to depressions in topography, varying land elevations, and proximity to the ocean. However, New Hampshire is generally classified as containing a cool-temperate climate, with its favorable conditions for outdoor recreation, such as skiing, attracting roughly 1 million visitors annually.

Geological overview

Physical geography

Economic geography

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.

The island of Key West is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (11 km²).^[7] Within Florida, it is 130 miles (210 km) southwest of Miami by air, about 165 miles (266 km) by road.^[8] Key West is approximately 95 miles (153 km) north of Cuba at their closest points, and 106 miles (171 km) north-northeast of Havana.^[9]^[10]

The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, which includes a majority of the Florida Keys and part of the Everglades.^[11]^[12] The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (14.5 km²).^[13] The population within the city limits was 26,444 at the 2020 census.^[4] The official city motto is "One Human Family".

Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. Duval Street, its main street, is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. Key West is the southern terminus of U.S. Route 1 – the longest north–south road in the United States, as well as State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935, the Florida East Coast Railway. Key West is a port of call for passenger cruise ships.^[14] The Key West International Airport provides airline service. Naval Air Station Key West is an important year-round training site for naval aviation due to the tropical weather, which is also the reason Key West was chosen as the site of President Harry S. Truman's Winter White House. The central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island.

History

Precolonial and colonial times

At various times before the 19th century, people who were related or subject to the Calusa and the Tequesta inhabited Key West. The last Native American residents of Key West were Calusa refugees who were taken to Cuba when Florida was transferred from Spain to Great Britain in 1763.^[15]

Cayo Hueso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaʝo ˈweso]) is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West. It literally means "bone cay", cay referring to a low island or reef. It is said that the island was littered with the remains (bones) of prior native inhabitants, who used the isle as a communal graveyard.^[16] This island was the westernmost Key with a reliable supply of water.^[17]

Between 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida from Spain, and 1821, when the United States took possession of Florida from Spain, there were few or no permanent inhabitants anywhere in the Florida Keys. Cubans and Bahamians regularly visited the Keys, the Cubans primarily to fish, while the Bahamians fished, caught turtles, cut hardwood timber, and salvaged wrecks. Smugglers and privateers also used the Keys for concealment. In 1766 the British governor of East Florida recommended that a post be set up on Key West to improve control of the area, but nothing came of it. During both the British and Spanish periods no nation exercised de facto control. The Bahamians apparently set up camps in the Keys that were occupied for months at a time, and there were rumors of permanent settlements in the Keys by 1806 or 1807, but the locations are not known. Fishermen from New England started visiting the Keys after the end of the War of 1812, and may have briefly settled on Key Vaca in 1818.^[18]

Ownership claims

In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, an officer of the Royal Spanish Navy Artillery posted in Saint Augustine, Florida. After Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, Salas was so eager to sell the island that he sold it twice – first for a sloop valued at $575 to a General John Geddes, a former governor of South Carolina, and then to a U.S. businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19, 1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, with the aid of some influential friends in Washington, was able to gain clear title to the island. Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the island's strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819 and he had been impressed by the potential offered by the deep harbor of the island. The island was indeed considered the "Gibraltar of the West" because of its strategic location on the 90-mile (140 km)–wide deep shipping lane, the Straits of Florida, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

On March 25, 1822, Lt. Commander Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner USS Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, claiming the Keys as United States property.^[19] No protests were made over the American claim on Key West, so the Florida Keys became the de facto property of the United States.

After claiming the Florida Keys for the United States, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso (Key West) to Thompson's Island for Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson, and the harbor Port Rodgers in honor of War of 1812 hero and President of the Navy Supervisors Board John Rodgers. In 1823, Commodore David Porter of the United States Navy West Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron took charge of Key West, which he ruled as military dictator under martial law. The United States Navy gave Porter the mission of countering piracy and the slave trade in the Key West area.

First developers

Soon after his purchase, John Simonton subdivided the island into plots and sold three undivided quarters of each plot to:

John Mountain and U.S. Consul John Warner, who quickly resold their quarter to Pardon C. Greene, who took up residence on the island. Greene is the only one of the four "founding fathers" to establish himself permanently on the island, where he became quite prominent as head of P.C. Greene and Company. He was a member of the city council^[20] and also served briefly as mayor. He died in 1838 at the age of 57.
John Whitehead, his friend who had advised him to buy Key West.^[21] John Whitehead lived in Key West for only eight years. He became a partner in the firm of P.C. Greene and Company from 1824 to 1827. A lifelong bachelor, he left the island for good in 1832. He came back only once, during the Civil War in 1861, and died the next year.
John Fleeming (nowadays spelled Fleming).^[21] John W.C. Fleeming was English-born and was active in mercantile business in Mobile, Alabama, where he befriended John Simonton. Fleeming spent only a few months in Key West in 1822 and left for Massachusetts, where he married. He returned to Key West in 1832 with the intention of developing salt manufacturing on the island but died the same year at the age of 51.

Simonton spent the winter in Key West and the summer in Washington, where he lobbied hard for the development of the island and to establish a naval base on the island, both to take advantage of the island's strategic location and to bring law and order to the town. He died in 1854.

The names of the four "founding fathers"^[22] of modern Key West were given to main arteries of the island when it was first platted in 1829 by William Adee Whitehead, John Whitehead's younger brother. That first plat and the names used remained mostly intact and are still in use today. Duval Street, the island's main street, is named after Florida's first territorial governor, William Pope Duval, who served between 1822 and 1834 as the longest-serving governor in Florida's U.S. history.

William Whitehead became chief editorial writer for the Enquirer, a local newspaper, in 1834. He preserved copies of his newspaper as well as copies from the Key West Gazette, its predecessor. He later sent those copies to the Monroe County clerk for preservation, which gives us a view of life in Key West in the early days (1820–1840).

In the 1830s, Key West was the richest city per capita in the United States.^[23]

In 1846, the city suffered severely from the 1846 Havana hurricane.

In 1852, the first Catholic Church, St. Mary's Star-Of-The-Sea, was built. The year 1864 became a landmark for the church in South Florida when five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived from Montreal, Canada, and established the first Catholic school in South Florida. At the time it was called Convent of Mary Immaculate. The school is still operating today and is now known as Mary Immaculate Star of the Sea School.

American Civil War and late 19th century

During the American Civil War, while Florida seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, Key West remained in U.S. Union hands because of the naval base. Most locals were sympathetic to the Confederacy, however, and many flew Confederate flags over their homes.^[24] However, Key West was also home to a large free black population. This population grew during the war as more enslaved black people fled from their enslavers and came under the relative safety of the Union garrison there.^[25] Fort Zachary Taylor, constructed from 1845 to 1866, was an important Key West outpost during the Civil War. Construction began in 1861 on two other forts, East and West Martello Towers, which served as side armories and batteries for the larger fort. When completed, they were connected to Fort Taylor by railroad tracks for movement of munitions.^[24] Early in 1864, 900 men from the 2nd United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in Key West as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Many of these men would see action in southern Florida and the 2nd USCT would become "one of the most active" black regiments in Florida.^[26] Fort Jefferson, located about 68 miles (109 km) from Key West on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, served after the Civil War as the prison for Samuel A. Mudd, convicted of conspiracy for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

In the 19th century, major industries included wrecking, fishing, turtling, and salt manufacturing.^[27] From 1830 to 1861, Key West was a major center of U.S. salt production, harvesting the commodity from the sea (via receding tidal pools) rather than from salt mines.^[27] After the outbreak of the Civil War, Union troops shut down the salt industry after Confederate sympathizers smuggled the product into the South.^[27] Salt production resumed at the end of the war, but the industry was destroyed by an 1876 hurricane and never recovered, in part because of new salt mines on the mainland.^[27]

During the Ten Years' War (an unsuccessful Cuban war for independence in the 1860s and 1870s), many Cubans sought refuge in Key West. Several cigar factories relocated to the city from Cuba, and Key West quickly became a major producer of cigars. The Great Fire of Key West, on April 1, 1886, started at a coffee shop next to the San Carlos Institute and spread out of control, destroyed 18 cigar factories and 614 houses and government warehouses.^[28] Some factory owners chose not to rebuild and instead moved their operations to the new community of Ybor City in Tampa, leading to a slow decline in the cigar industry in Key West. Still, Key West remained the largest and wealthiest city in Florida at the end of the 1880s.^[24]

USS Maine sailed from Key West on her fateful visit to Havana, where she blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, igniting the Spanish–American War. Crewmen from the ship are buried in Key West, and the Navy investigation into the blast occurred at the Key West Customs House.

20th century

In October 1909, Key West was devastated by the 1909 Florida Keys hurricane. Further damage was suffered the following year in the 1910 Cuba hurricane.

Key West was relatively isolated until 1912, when it was connected to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway extension of Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). Flagler created a landfill at Trumbo Point for his railyards.

The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane caused catastrophic damage to the area.

On December 25, 1921, Manuel Cabeza was lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan for living with a black woman.^[29]

Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West, originally to fly visitors to Havana, in 1926. The airline contracted with the United States Postal Service in 1927 to deliver mail to and from Cuba and the United States. The mail route was known as the Key West, Florida – Havana Mail Route.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed much of the Overseas Railway and killed hundreds of residents, including around 400 World War I veterans who were living in camps and working on federal road and mosquito-control projects in the Middle Keys. The FEC could not afford to restore the railroad.

The U.S. government then rebuilt the rail route as an automobile highway, completed in 1938, built atop many of the footings of the railroad. It became an extension of U.S. Route 1. The portion of U.S. 1 through the Keys is called the Overseas Highway. Franklin Roosevelt toured the road in 1939.

During World War II, more than 14,000 ships came through the island's harbor. The population, because of an influx of soldiers, sailors, laborers, and tourists, sometimes doubled or even tripled at times during the war.^[30]

Starting in 1946, US President Harry S. Truman established a working vacation home in Key West, the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where he would spend 175 days of his presidency.

In 1948, Key West suffered damage from two hurricanes within as many months, from the September 1948 Florida hurricane then the 1948 Miami hurricane.

Prior to the Cuban revolution of 1959, there were regular ferry and airplane services between Key West and Havana.

John F. Kennedy was to use "90 miles from Cuba" extensively in his speeches against Fidel Castro. Kennedy himself visited Key West a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1982, the city of Key West briefly asserted independence as the Conch Republic as a protest over a United States Border Patrol blockade. This blockade was set up on US 1, where the northern end of the Overseas Highway meets the mainland at Florida City. A traffic jam of 17 miles (27 km) ensued while the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving the Keys, supposedly searching for illegal immigrants attempting to enter the mainland United States. This paralyzed the Florida Keys, which rely heavily on the tourism industry. Flags, T-shirts and other merchandise representing the Conch Republic are still popular souvenirs for visitors to Key West, and the Conch Republic Independence Celebration—including parades and parties—is celebrated annually, on April 23.

In 1998, Hurricane Georges damaged the city.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused substantial damage with wind and flooding, killing three people.

Geography

Key West is an island located at 24°33′55″N 81°46′33″W / 24.565176°N 81.775794°W / 24.565176; -81.775794^[2] in the Straits of Florida. The island is about 4 miles (6 km) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (10.9 km²; 2,688.0 acres).^[7] The average elevation above sea level is about 8 feet (2.4 m) and the maximum elevation is about 18 feet (5.5 m), within a 1-acre (0-hectare) area known as Solares Hill.^[31]^[32]

The city of Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States,^[7] and the island is the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. The city boundaries include the island of Key West and several nearby islands, as well as the section of Stock Island north of U.S. Route 1, on the adjacent key to the east. The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (15 km²), with an additional 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) of surrounding water within the city limits.^[3] Sigsbee Park—originally known as Dredgers Key—and Fleming Key, both located to the north, and Sunset Key located to the west are all included in the city boundaries. Both Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park are part of Naval Air Station Key West and are inaccessible to the general public.

In the late 1950s, many of the large salt ponds on the eastern side of the island were filled in. The new section on the eastern side is called New Town, which contains shopping centers, retail malls, residential areas, schools, ball parks, and Key West International Airport.

Key West and most of the rest of the Florida Keys are on the dividing line between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The two bodies have different currents, with the calmer and warmer Gulf of Mexico being characterized by great clumps of seagrass. The shallow passage known as Hawk Channel lies directly south of the island and is conducive to the exchange of Gulf waters to the Atlantic via tidal currents.^[33] The area where the two bodies merge between Key West and Cuba is called the Straits of Florida. The warmest ocean waters anywhere on the United States mainland are found in the Florida Keys in winter, with sea surface temperatures averaging in the 75–77 °F (24–25 °C) range in December through February.

Duval Street is the main street in Key West and is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean.

Key West is closer to Havana (about 106 miles or 171 kilometers by air or sea)^[9] than it is to Miami (130 miles or 210 kilometers by air or 165 miles or 266 kilometers by road).^[8] Key West is the usual endpoint for marathon swims from Cuba, including Diana Nyad's 2013 swim^[34]^[35] and Susie Maroney's 1997 swim from within a shark cage.^[36]

Notable places

Old Town

Locations in Old Town

Surveying Equipment. Clockwise from upper left: Optical Theodolite, Robotic total station, RTK GPS Base station, Optical level.

The earliest Key West neighborhoods, on the western part of the island, are broadly known as Old Town. The Key West Historic District includes the major tourist destinations of the island, including Mallory Square, Duval Street, the Truman Annex, and Fort Zachary Taylor. Old Town is where the classic bungalows and guest mansions are found. Bahama Village, southwest of Whitehead Street, features houses, churches, and sites related to its Afro-Bahamian history. The Meadows, lying northeast of the White Street Gallery District, is exclusively residential.^{[citation needed]}

Many of the structures in Old Town date from 1886 to 1912. The basic features that distinguish the local architecture include wood-frame construction of one- to two-and-a-half-story structures set on foundation piers about three feet (one meter) above the ground. Exterior characteristics of the buildings are peaked metal roofs, horizontal wood siding, gingerbread trim, pastel shades of paint, side-hinged louvered shutters, covered porches (or balconies, galleries, or verandas) along the fronts of the structures, and wood lattice screens covering the area elevated by the piers.^{[citation needed]}

Some antebellum structures survive, including the Oldest (or Cussans-Watlington) House (1829–1836)^[37] and the John Huling Geiger House (1846–1849), now preserved as the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens.^[38] Fortifications such as Fort Zachary Taylor,^[39] the East Martello Tower,^[40] and the West Martello Tower,^[41] helped ensure that Key West would remain in Union control throughout the Civil War. Another landmark built by the federal government is the Key West Lighthouse, now a museum.^[42]

Two of the most notable buildings in Old Town, occupied by prominent 20th-century residents, are the Ernest Hemingway House, where the writer lived from 1931 to 1939, and the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where the president spent 175 days of his time in office.^[43] Additionally, the residences of some historical Key West families are recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as important landmarks of history and culture, including the Porter House on Caroline Street^[44] and the Gato House on Virginia Street.^[45]

Several historical residences of the Curry family remain extant, including the Benjamin Curry House, built by the brother of Florida's first millionaire, William Curry,^[46] as well as the Southernmost House and the Fogarty Mansion, built by the children of William Curry—his daughter Florida and son Charles, respectively.^[47]

In addition to architecture, Old Town includes the Key West Cemetery, founded in 1847,^[48] containing above-ground tombs, notable epitaphs, and a plot where some of the dead from the 1898 explosion of USS Maine are buried.^[49]^[50]

Casa Marina

The Casa Marina area takes its name from the Casa Marina Hotel, opened in 1921,^[51] the neighborhood's most conspicuous landmark. The Reynolds Street Pier, Higgs Beach,^[52] the West Martello Tower, the White Street Pier, and Rest Beach line the waterfront.^{[citation needed]}

Southernmost point in the United States

One of the most popular attractions on the island is a concrete replica of a buoy at the corner of South and Whitehead Streets that claims to be the southernmost point in the contiguous United States. The point was originally marked with a basic sign. The city of Key West erected the current monument in 1983.^[53] The monument was repainted after damage by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and is the most often photographed tourist site in the Florida Keys.^[54]

Although the monument is labeled "Southernmost point continental U.S.A.", the actual southernmost point of Key West is Whitehead Spit, which is on the Truman Annex property just west of the buoy. The spit has no marker since it is on U.S. Navy land that cannot be entered by civilian tourists. The private property directly to the east of the buoy, and the beach areas of Truman Annex and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, also lie farther south than the buoy. The southernmost point of the contiguous United States is Ballast Key, a privately owned island just south and west of Key West. The southernmost location that the public can visit is the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor park.

The monument states "90 Miles to Cuba", although Key West and Cuba are actually about 95 statute miles (153 kilometers; 83 nautical miles) apart at their closest points.^[9]^[10] Note that the distance from the monument to Havana is, however, about 90 nautical miles (104 statute miles; 167 kilometers).^[9]

Key West Library

The first public library was officially established in 1853, which was housed in the then-Masonic Temple on Simonston Street, near where the federal courthouse is today. At the time, the first library president was James Lock, with the librarian being William Delaney. At the time, the library collected held 1,200 volumes for residents to access.^{[citation needed]}

In 1919, a hurricane destroyed the library. Key West residents moved the library to various locations across the island. The county took over and finally found a permanent location. The library's new location was found in 1959. It was built on Fleming Street, where it is still found today.^{[citation needed]}

"Spoonbill"

In 1961, the Monroe County Library System sponsored a bookmobile, "Spoonbill", to service the entire Keys.^[55] By 1962, "Spoonbill" was making stops in ten different Keys, over one hundred miles (160 km), from Key Largo in the North to Key West in the South.^[55] Mrs. Barbara Banning was the driver-librarian, driving over 25,000 miles (40,000 km) in the first year and a half, circulating more than 28,000 titles.^[55]

On Mondays, the "Spoonbill" would be loaded with books in Key West and Banning and her assistant, or volunteer, would drive up to Key Largo, Tavernier, and Islamorada, stopping for an hour in each location; Wednesdays the "Spoonbill" made stops in Marathon, Big Pine, Little Torch, and Summerland.^[55]

On Thursdays, the "Spoonbill" would only travel twenty miles (32 km) from home base, making stops in Bay Point, Big Coppitt, and Gulf Rest. At Bay Point there was a popular children's story hour, servicing roughly three hundred school-age children and led by former kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ernest Hense.^[55]

Collection

The Key West Library has a collection of 70,000 items, including a letter from singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Dated from October 22, 1984, the letter expresses gratitude for the library in giving inspiration for the songs he would eventually write, and for the air conditioning.^[56] As of 2022, the Key West Library is a part of the Monroe County Public Library System.^[57]

Notable residences

Little White House

Several U.S. presidents have visited Key West with the first being Ulysses S. Grant in 1880, followed by Grover Cleveland in 1889, and William Howard Taft in 1912.^[58] Taft was the first president to use the first officer's quarters that would later be known as the Little White House.^[59] Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the Florida Keys many times, beginning in 1917.^[58]

Harry S. Truman visited Key West for a total of 175 days on 11 visits during his presidency and visited five times after he left office. His first visit was in 1946.^[60] The Little White House and Truman Annex take their names from his frequent and well-documented visits. The residence is also known as the Winter White House as Truman stayed there mostly in the winter months, and used it for official business such as the Truman Doctrine.^[61]

Dwight D. Eisenhower stayed at the Little White House following a heart attack in 1955.^[58] John F. Kennedy visited Key West in March 1961, and in November 1962, a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Jimmy Carter visited the Little White House twice with his family after he had left office, in 1996 and 2007.^[60]

Ernest Hemingway house

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway wrote part of A Farewell to Arms while living above the showroom of a Key West Ford dealership at 314 Simonton Street^[62] while awaiting delivery of a Ford Model A roadster purchased by the uncle of his wife Pauline in 1928.^[63]

Hardware store owner Charles Thompson introduced him to deep-sea fishing. Among the group who went fishing was Joe Russell (also known as Sloppy Joe). Some scholars believe Russell was the model for Freddy in To Have and Have Not.^[64] The group had nicknames for each other, and Hemingway wound up with "Papa".

Pauline's rich uncle Gus Pfeiffer bought the 907 Whitehead Street house^[65] in 1931 as a wedding present. The Hemingways installed a swimming pool for $20,000 in 1937–38 (equivalent to about $339,639 in 2023). The unexpectedly high cost prompted Hemingway to put a penny in the wet cement of the patio, saying, "Here, take the last penny I've got!" The penny is at the north end of the pool.^[66]

During his stay he wrote or worked on Death in the Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. He used Depression-era Key West as one of the locations in To Have and Have Not—his only novel with scenes that occur in the United States.

A polydactyl cat with seven toes at Hemingway's house

The six- or seven-toed polydactyl cats descended from Hemingway's original pet "Snowball" still live on the grounds and are cared for at the Hemingway House, despite complaints by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that they are not kept free from visitor contact. The Key West City Commission has exempted the house from a law prohibiting more than four domestic animals per household.

Pauline and Hemingway divorced in 1939; Hemingway only occasionally visited when returning from Havana until his suicide in 1961.^{[citation needed]}

Tennessee Williams house

Tennessee Williams first became a regular visitor to Key West in 1941 and is said to have written the first draft of A Streetcar Named Desire while staying in 1947 at the La Concha Hotel. He bought a permanent house in 1949 and listed Key West as his primary residence until his death in 1983. In contrast to Hemingway's grand house in Old Town, the Williams home at 1431 Duncan Street^[67] in the "unfashionable" New Town neighborhood is a very modest bungalow. The house is privately owned and not open to the public. The Academy Award-winning film version of his play The Rose Tattoo was shot on the island in 1956. The Tennessee Williams Theatre is located on the campus of Florida Keys Community College on Stock Island.^[68]

Though Hemingway and Williams lived in Key West at the same time, they reportedly met only once—at Hemingway's home in Cuba, Finca Vigía.^[69]

Port of Key West

The first cruise ship to adopt the port was the Sunward in 1969. It docked at Pier B, which was owned at that time by the U.S. Navy.

In 1984, the city opened a cruise terminal at Mallory Square. The decision was met with opponents who claimed that it would disrupt the tradition of watching the sunset at Mallory Square.^[70]

Today, the Port of Key West includes Key West Bight, Garrison Bight at City Marina, as well as three docks that could be used by cruise ships.^[70]

Climate

Key West has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw, similar to many of the Caribbean islands).^[71] Like most localities near the edge of the tropics, Key West has a relatively short range in monthly mean temperatures between the coldest month (January) and the hottest month (July), with the annual range of monthly mean temperatures around 15 °F (8.3 °C). The lowest recorded temperature in Key West is 41 °F (5 °C) on January 12, 1886, and January 13, 1981. Key West is located in USDA plant hardiness zone 12a, with an annual mean minimum temperature of 50 °F (10 °C).

Prevailing easterly trade winds and sea breezes suppress the usual summertime heating (while increasing the winter rainfall), with temperatures rarely reaching 95 °F (35 °C). There are 56 days per year with 90 °F (32 °C) or greater highs,^[72] with the average window for such readings June 8 through September 24, shorter than almost the entire southeastern U.S. Low temperatures often remain above 80 °F (27 °C), however. The all-time record high temperature is 97 °F (36 °C) on July 19, 1880, and August 29, 1956.^[72]

Wet and dry seasons

Like most tropical climates, Key West has a two-season wet and dry climate. The period from November through April is normally sunny and fairly dry, with only 25 percent of the annual rainfall occurring. May through October is normally the wet season. During the wet season some rain falls on most days, often as brief, but heavy tropical downpours, followed by intense sun. Early morning is the favored time for these showers, which is different from mainland Florida, where showers and thunderstorms usually occur in the afternoon.

Easterly (tropical) waves during this season occasionally bring excessive rainfall, while infrequent hurricanes may be accompanied by unusually heavy amounts. On average, rainfall markedly peaks between August and October; the single wettest month in Key West is September, when the threat from tropical weather systems (hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical depressions) is greatest. Key West is the driest city in Florida, averaging just over 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain per year. This is driven primarily by Key West's relative dryness in May, June and July. In mainland Florida peninsular areas like Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Fort Myers, June and July average monthly rainfalls typically reach 7 to 10 inches (180 to 250 mm), while Key West has only half such amounts over the same period.^[73]

Hurricanes

Flooding caused by Hurricane Wilma on Key Haven, island suburb of the City of Key West on Raccoon Key (October 24, 2005)

Key West, like the rest of the Florida Keys, is vulnerable to hurricanes. The most recent hurricane to impact Key West was Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in the Keys in the morning of September 10, 2017 as a Category 4 storm.

Some locals maintain that Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005, was the worst storm in memory. The entire island was told to evacuate and business owners were forced to shut their doors. After the hurricane had passed, the resulting storm surge sent eight feet (two meters) of water inland completely inundating a large portion of the lower Keys. Low-lying areas of Key West and the lower Keys, including major tourist destinations, were under as much as three feet (one meter) of water. Sixty percent of the homes in Key West were flooded.^[74] The higher parts of Old Town, such as the Solares Hill and cemetery areas, did not flood, because of their higher elevations of 12 to 18 feet (4 to 5 m).^[75] The surge destroyed tens of thousands of cars throughout the lower Keys, and many houses were flooded with one to two feet (thirty to sixty-one centimeters) of sea water. A local newspaper referred to Key West and the lower Keys as a "car graveyard".^[76] The peak of the storm surge occurred when the eye of Wilma had already passed over the Naples area, and the sustained winds during the surge were less than 40 mph (64 km/h; 35 kn).^[75] The storm destroyed the piers at the clothing-optional Atlantic Shores Motel and breached the shark tank at the Key West Aquarium, freeing its sharks. Damage postponed the island's famous Halloween Fantasy Fest until the following December. MTV's The Real World: Key West was filming during the hurricane and deals with the storm.

In September 2005, NOAA opened its National Weather Service forecast office building on White Street. The building is designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and its storm surge.^{[citation needed]}

The most intense previous hurricane was Hurricane Georges, a Category 2, in September 1998. The storm damaged many of the houseboats along "Houseboat Row" on South Roosevelt Boulevard near Cow Key channel on the east side of the island.^{[citation needed]}

Climate data for Key West Int'l, Florida (1991–2020 normals,^[a] extremes 1872−present)^[b]
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	90 (32)	87 (31)	89 (32)	91 (33)	94 (34)	96 (36)	97 (36)	97 (36)	95 (35)	93 (34)	91 (33)	88 (31)	97 (36)
Mean maximum °F (°C)	81.9 (27.7)	82.5 (28.1)	84.1 (28.9)	86.2 (30.1)	88.8 (31.6)	91.0 (32.8)	92.2 (33.4)	92.3 (33.5)	91.5 (33.1)	89.1 (31.7)	85.4 (29.7)	82.9 (28.3)	92.7 (33.7)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	75.8 (24.3)	77.4 (25.2)	79.6 (26.4)	82.6 (28.1)	85.9 (29.9)	88.7 (31.5)	90.2 (32.3)	90.6 (32.6)	89.0 (31.7)	85.8 (29.9)	81.0 (27.2)	77.7 (25.4)	83.7 (28.7)
Daily mean °F (°C)	70.6 (21.4)	72.3 (22.4)	74.4 (23.6)	77.9 (25.5)	81.1 (27.3)	84.1 (28.9)	85.4 (29.7)	85.5 (29.7)	84.1 (28.9)	81.3 (27.4)	76.6 (24.8)	73.0 (22.8)	78.9 (26.1)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	65.5 (18.6)	67.1 (19.5)	69.3 (20.7)	73.1 (22.8)	76.4 (24.7)	79.4 (26.3)	80.6 (27.0)	80.5 (26.9)	79.2 (26.2)	76.8 (24.9)	72.2 (22.3)	68.3 (20.2)	74.0 (23.3)
Mean minimum °F (°C)	51.8 (11.0)	55.0 (12.8)	58.5 (14.7)	63.6 (17.6)	69.5 (20.8)	73.5 (23.1)	74.5 (23.6)	74.1 (23.4)	74.1 (23.4)	69.3 (20.7)	62.4 (16.9)	56.6 (13.7)	50.1 (10.1)
Record low °F (°C)	41 (5)	44 (7)	47 (8)	48 (9)	63 (17)	65 (18)	68 (20)	68 (20)	64 (18)	59 (15)	49 (9)	44 (7)	41 (5)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	1.83 (46)	1.54 (39)	1.53 (39)	2.07 (53)	3.12 (79)	4.23 (107)	3.63 (92)	5.37 (136)	7.24 (184)	5.67 (144)	2.05 (52)	2.15 (55)	40.44 (1,027)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)	6.9	4.9	4.8	4.5	7.5	11.2	11.6	14.6	15.8	12.1	6.3	6.4	106.6
Average relative humidity (%)	76.0	74.3	73.0	70.1	71.8	74.0	72.2	73.4	75.3	75.1	76.0	76.2	74.0
Average dew point °F (°C)	61.3 (16.3)	61.2 (16.2)	63.9 (17.7)	65.8 (18.8)	70.0 (21.1)	73.6 (23.1)	74.3 (23.5)	74.7 (23.7)	74.3 (23.5)	70.9 (21.6)	66.7 (19.3)	63.1 (17.3)	68.3 (20.2)
Mean monthly sunshine hours	249.6	245.4	308.8	324.6	340.3	314.0	325.2	306.6	269.6	254.7	230.9	234.5	3,404.2
Percentage possible sunshine	75	77	83	85	82	77	78	76	73	71	70	71	77
Source: NOAA (relative humidity, dew point and sun 1961−1990)^[72]^[77]^[78]

Climate data for Key West
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average sea temperature °F (°C)	71.2 (21.8)	71.2 (21.8)	73.2 (22.9)	77.7 (25.4)	80.6 (27.0)	83.3 (28.5)	85.5 (29.7)	86.9 (30.5)	85.5 (29.7)	82.8 (28.2)	78.4 (25.8)	74.5 (23.6)	79.2 (26.2)
Mean daily daylight hours	11.0	11.0	12.0	13.0	13.0	14.0	13.0	13.0	12.0	12.0	11.0	11.0	12.2
Average Ultraviolet index	6	8	10	11	11	11	11	11	10	9	7	6	9.3
Source: Weather Atlas^[79]

See or edit raw graph data.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1840	688	—
1850	2,367	244.0%
1860	2,832	19.6%
1870	5,016	77.1%
1880	9,890	97.2%
1890	18,080	82.8%
1900	17,114	−5.3%
1910	19,945	16.5%
1920	18,749	−6.0%
1930	12,831	−31.6%
1940	12,927	0.7%
1950	26,433	104.5%
1960	33,956	28.5%
1970	29,312	−13.7%
1980	24,382	−16.8%
1990	24,832	1.8%
2000	25,478	2.6%
2010	24,649	−3.3%
2020	26,444	7.3%
U.S. Decennial Census^[80]

2010 and 2020 census

**Key West racial composition**
(Hispanics excluded from racial categories)
(*NH = Non-Hispanic*)
Race	Pop 2010^[81]	Pop 2020^[82]	% 2010	% 2020
White (NH)	16,286	16,160	66.07%	61.11%
Black or African American (NH)	2,215	2,562	8.99%	9.69%
Native American or Alaska Native (NH)	84	59	0.34%	0.22%
Asian (NH)	386	609	1.57%	2.30%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian (NH)	34	35	0.14%	0.13%
Some other race (NH)	44	186	0.18%	0.70%
Two or more races/Multiracial (NH)	372	904	1.51%	3.42%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	5,228	5,929	21.21%	22.42%
Total	24,649	26,444

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 26,444 people, 10,788 households, and 5,701 families residing in the city.^[83]

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 24,649 people, 9,388 households, and 4,813 families residing in the city.^[84]

Ancestry in Key West (2014–2018) ^[85]^[86]
Ancestral origin:			Percent:
English American (including "American" ancestry)			14%
Cuban American			12.7%
German American			10.1%
Irish American			7.9%
Italian American			6.2%
West Indian Americans (excluding Hispanic groups)			5.7%
African American			4.8%
Mexican American			4.2%
Central American			4%
Polish American			3.7%
Scottish American (including Scots-Irish)			2.8%
Scandinavian Americans (including Iceland, Finland, and Baltic States)			2.8%
Puerto Rican American			2.7%
Central European (including Slavic, Slovakian, Slovenian, Czech, etc.)			2.3%

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 25,478 people, 11,016 households, and 5,463 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,653.3/km² (4,285.0/mi²). There are 13,306 housing units at an average density of 863.4/km² (2,237.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.94% White, 9.28% Black or African American, 0.39% Native American, 1.29% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.86% from other races, and 2.18% from two or more races. 16.54% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

In 2000, there were 10,501 households, out of which 19.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.7% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.4% were classified as non-families. Of all households, 31.4% were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.84.

In 2000, 16.0% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.4% was from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 122.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 126.0 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household was $43,021, and the median income for those classified as families was $50,895. Males had a median income of $30,967 versus $25,407 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,316. About 5.8% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over. The ancestries most reported in 2000 were English (12.4%), German (12.2%), Irish (11.3%), Italian (6.8%), American (6.0%) and French (3.6%).

The number of families (as defined by the US census bureau) declined dramatically in the last four decades of the 20th century. In 1960, there were 13,340 families in Key West, with 42.1% of households having children living in them. By 2000, the population had dwindled to 5,463 families, with only 19.9% of households having children living in them.^[87]

As of 2000, 76.66% spoke only English at home, while Spanish was spoken by 17.32%, 1.06% spoke Italian, 1.02% spoke French, and German was spoken as a by 0.94% of the population. In total, speakers of other languages spoken besides English made up 25.33% of residents.^[88]

"Conchs"

Many of the early residents of Key West were immigrants from the Bahamas, known as Conchs (pronounced "conks"'), who arrived in increasing numbers after 1830. Many were sons and daughters of Loyalists who fled to the nearest Crown soil during the American Revolution.^[89] In the 20th century many residents of Key West started referring to themselves as Conchs, and the term is now generally applied to all residents of Key West. Some residents use the term "Conch" (or, alternatively, "Saltwater Conch") to refer to a person born in Key West, while the term "Freshwater Conch" refers to a resident not born in Key West but who has lived in Key West for seven years or more.^[90] The true original meaning of Conch applies only to someone with European ancestry who immigrated from the Bahamas, however. It is said that when a baby was born, the family would put a conch shell on a pole in front of their home.

Many of the black Bahamian immigrants who arrived later lived in Bahama Village, an area of Old Town next to the Truman Annex.

Cuban presence

Key West is closer to Havana (106 miles or 171 kilometres)^[9] than it is to Miami (130 mi; 210 km).^[8] In 1890, Key West had a population of nearly 18,800 and was the biggest and richest city in Florida.^[91] Half the residents were said to be of Cuban origin, and Key West regularly had Cuban mayors, including the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, father of the Cuban Republic, who was elected mayor in 1876.^[92] Cubans were actively involved in reportedly 200 factories in town, producing 100 million cigars annually. José Martí made several visits to seek recruits for Cuban independence starting in 1891 and founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party during his visits to Key West.^[92]

Key West received a large number of refugees during the Mariel Boatlift. Refugees continue to come ashore and, on at least one occasion, most notably in April 2003, flew hijacked Cuban Airlines planes into the city's airport.^[93]

Government and politics

Key West is governed via a mayor-council system. The city council is known as the city commission. It consists of six members each elected from individual districts. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.

Mayors

Mayors of Key West have reflected the city's cultural and ethnic heritage. It has had mayors of Cuban ancestry and others that were openly gay. One mayor is famous for having water-skied to Cuba.^[94]

Military presence

NAS Key West, Boca Chica and the Truman Annex have been the home of U.S. ships, submarines, Pegasus-class hydrofoils, Fighter Training Squadrons like the current VFC-111 "Sundowners", and Light Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons like the former VFP-62 "Fighting Photos" during the Cuban Missile Crisis. NAS Key West is still a training facility for US Naval Aviation personnel.^[95]^[96]

Key West has had a military presence since 1823, shortly after its purchase by Simonton in 1822. John W. Simonton lobbied the U.S. government to establish a naval base on Key West, both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the Key West town. On March 25, 1822, naval officer Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag claiming the Keys as United States property. In 1823, a naval base was established to protect shipping merchants in the lower keys from pirates that would eventually evolve through the Civil War, the Spanish American War, two world wars, and the Cold War as Naval Station Key West, eventually home to the Fleet Sonar School, Marine Barracks Key West, Submarine Squadron 4, Submarine Squadron 12, Destroyer Squadron 12, and various diesel-powered submarines and surface ships. NAVSTA Key West was closed in 1974 as part of post-Vietnam War force reductions across the Department of Defense. A portion of the original NAVSTA Key West still remains under Navy control as Naval Air Station Key West-Truman Annex while a portion containing Fort Zachary Taylor was conveyed to the State of Florida as Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. The Truman Little White House has also been preserved as a museum based on its history as a part-time residence of President Harry S. Truman during his presidency. The remainder of the original base was conveyed to civilian control for redevelopment and now comprises The Key West Amphitheater, Truman Waterfront Park, residential redevelopment consisting of both homes and condominiums, and a portion of Mallory Square.^[97]^[98]^[99]^[100]

Key West was always an important military post, since it sits at the northern edge of the deepwater channel connecting the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico (the southern edge 90 miles [140 km] away is Cuba) via the Florida Straits. Because of this, Key West since the 1820s had been dubbed the "Gibraltar of the West". Fort Taylor was initially built on the island. The Navy added a small base from which USS Maine sailed to its demise in Havana at the beginning of the Spanish–American War which later evolved into NAVSTA Key West.

Naval Air Station Key West

At the beginning of World War II the Navy increased its presence from 50 to 3,000 acres (20 to 1,214 hectares), including all of Boca Chica Key's 1,700 acres (690 ha) and the construction of Fleming Key from landfill. The Navy built the first water pipeline extending the length of the Keys, bringing fresh water from the mainland to supply its bases.^[101] At its peak 15,000 military personnel and 3,400 civilians were at the base. Included in the base are:

Naval Air Station Key West – This is the main facility on Boca Chica. The air station's primary purpose is readiness training for carrier-based strike fighter, electronic attack and carrier airborne early warning squadrons of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and U.S. Pacific Fleet, primarily via the Fleet Fighter Aircrew Readiness Program (FFARP), honing the skills of Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers in air combat training prior to overseas deployment. An additional squadron permanently based at NAS Key West, Fighter Composite Squadron 111 (VFC-111), is composed of both active duty and Navy Reserve pilots who fly F-5 Tiger II aircraft as simulated enemy aggressors in Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) for Fleet aircrews, primarily using the offshore Key West Tactical Air Crew Training System (TACTS) Range. Permanent party officer and enlisted personnel assigned to NAS Key West are primarily housed at the Navy's Sigsbee Park housing area eight miles to the west or in private housing on the local economy. In 2006 there were 1,650 active duty personnel; 2,507 family members; 35 Reserve members; and 1,312 civilians listed at the base. In the 1990s the Navy worked out an agreement with the National Park Service to eliminate sonic booms in the vicinity of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Many of the training missions are directed at the Marquesas "Patricia" Target 29 nautical miles (54 km) due west of the base. The target is a grounded ship hulk 306 feet (93 m) in length that is visible only at low tide. Bombs are not actually dropped on the target.
Truman Annex – The area next to Fort Taylor became a submarine pen and was used for the Fleet Sonar School. President Harry S. Truman was to make the commandant's house his winter White House. The Fort Taylor Annex was later renamed the Truman Annex. This portion has largely been decommissioned, with Fort Zachary Taylor conveyed to the State of Florida as a state park and the remainder turned over to private developers and the city of Key West. There are still a few military and U.S. government offices and facilities there, including the new NOAA Hurricane Forecasting Center and the military headquarters for Joint Interagency Task Force South, an element of U.S. Southern Command. The Navy still owns its piers.
Trumbo Point Annex – The docking area on what had been the railroad yard for Flagler's Overseas Railroad is now used by the Coast Guard as Coast Guard Sector Key West and Coast Guard Station Key West, to include being the homeport for several Coast Guard cutters. It is also home to the Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) for NAS Key West and contains additional married family military housing.

Media

Key West is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale television market. It is served by rebroadcast transmitters in Key West and Marathon that repeat the Miami-Fort Lauderdale stations. Comcast provides cable television service. DirecTV and Dish Network provide Miami-Fort Lauderdale local stations and national channels.

The Key West area has 11 FM radio stations, 4 FM translators, and 2 AM stations. WEOW 92.7 is the home of The Rude Girl & Molly Blue, a popular morning zoo duo; Bill Bravo is the afternoon host. SUN 99.5 has Hoebee and Miss Loretta in the p.m. drive. Island 106.9 FM is the only locally owned, independent FM station in Key West, featuring alternative rock music and community programs.

The Florida Keys Keynoter and the Key West Citizen are published locally and serve Key West and Monroe County. The Southernmost Flyer, a weekly publication printed in conjunction with the Citizen, is produced by the Public Affairs Department of Naval Air Station Key West and serves the local military community. Key West the Newspaper (known locally as The Blue Paper due to its colorful header) is a local weekly investigative newspaper, established in 1994 by Dennis Cooper, taken over in 2013 as a fully digital publication by Arnaud and Naja Girard.^[102]

In October 2022, TheKeys411.com launched KeyWestPlus.com, or KeyWest+, on Roku. The channel spotlights local musicians, people of interest, and lifestyle topics in Key West and The Florida Keys.^{[citation needed]}

Education

Monroe County School District operates public schools in Key West.

District-operated elementary schools serving the City of Key West include Poinciana Elementary School, which is located on the island of Key West, and Gerald Adams Elementary School, which is located on Stock Island.^[103] District-operated middle and high schools include Horace O'Bryant School, a former middle school that now operates as a K–8 school, and the Key West High School. All of Key West is zoned to Horace O'Bryant School for grades 6–8 and to Key West High School for grades 9–12. Sigsbee Charter School is a K–8 school, sanctioned by the District and serving predominantly military dependent children as well as children from the community at large.^[104] Admission to Sigsbee Charter School is limited and the waiting list is managed by a lottery system.^[105] Key West Montessori Charter School is a district-sanctioned charter school on Key West Island.^[106]

The main campus of the College of the Florida Keys (formerly Florida Keys Community College) is located in Key West.^[107]

Notable people

Explanatory notes

^ Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^ Official records for Key West were kept at the Weather Bureau in downtown from January 1871 to February 1958, and at Key West Int'l since March 1958. For more information, see ThreadEx.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "How Wet is Your State? The Water Area of Each State | U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "2010 Census U.S. Gazetteer Files – Places National". United States Census Bureau. n.d. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "2022 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Florida". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "P1. Race – Key West city, Florida: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Key West City Information: Regional Setting". February 4, 2006. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Distance from Miami, FL to Key West, FL". Retrieved February 14, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "ACME Mapper". ACME Labs. Zoom out, drag map until the center pointer is on the Cuban coast, zoom in and adjust position, then click the 'Markers' button at bottom right of map. Units can be changed via the 'Options' button.
^ ^a ^b "Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculator". National Hurricane Center. Coordinates used for Key West (the Whitehead Spit): 24.54410 (N), 81.80486 (W), and for Cuba (a headland just west of Santa Cruz del Norte): 23.18375 (N), 82.0003 (W).
^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
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^ Viele, John (1996). The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. pp. 3, 7. ISBN 978-1-56164-101-7.
^ "Exploring Florida Documents: Key West: General History and Sketches". Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ Windhorn, Stan & Langley, Wright 1973. Yesterday's Key West
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^ "First person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage or fins". Guinness World Records. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
^ "Diana Nyad defends Cuba-to-Florida swim as skeptics question use of gear". The Guardian. Associated Press. September 11, 2013. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
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^ "Key West Resorts – Waldorf Astoria Casa Marina Hotel – FL". Retrieved January 5, 2016.
^ "Monroe County, FL – Official Website – Higgs Beach". Retrieved January 5, 2016.
^ "Key West Vacation Rentals, House Rentals | Professionally Cleaned". Archived from the original on December 2, 2008.
^ O'Brien, Bridget. "Southernmost Point Buoy In Key West Shines Again". Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Literature Rolls into Florida Keys". ProQuest 115932306.
^ O'Hara, Timothy. "Key West Library All Set to Turn 60". Key West Citizen.
^ "Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys". Archived from the original on April 3, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Klingener, Nancy (April 18, 2018). "Power Magnet: Key West's Long History Of Presidential Visits". Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ "Truman Little White House | Key West Museum History". Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Truman Little White House | Truman Key West visits". Truman Little White House. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ "Truman Little White House | Media center". Truman Little White House. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ "314 Simonton Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
^ McIver, Stuart B. (2002). Hemingway's Key West. Pineapple Press Inc. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-56164-241-0.
^ "Sloppy Joe's...Yesterday". June 27, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
^ "907 Whitehead Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
^ "Hemingway – The Legend". hemingwayhome.com. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
^ "1431 Duncan Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
^ "5901 College Road, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
^ Dundy, Elaine (June 9, 2001). "Our men in Havana". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Nicholas, Stephen (1989). A Chronological History of Key West: A Tropical Island City. Key West Images of the Past, Inc. ASIN B00071OYLI.
^ "Koppen climate map". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "NOWData – NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
^ Gutelius, Scott; Stone, Marshall; Varner, Marcus (2003), True Secrets of Key West Revealed!, Key West: Eden Entertainment Limited, ISBN 978-0-9672819-4-0
^ Key West Citizen "New commissioners' trial by wind and flood" October 27, 2005
^ ^a ^b Key West Citizen October 25, 2005, pp 1–2, 6
^ Key West Citizen "Flooded cars litter the Keys" October 27, 2005
^ "Summary of Monthly Normals 1991–2020". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
^ "WMO Climate Normals for KEY WEST/INTL, FL 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
^ "Key West, Florida, USA – Monthly weather forecast and Climate data". Weather Atlas. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
^ "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
^ "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
^ "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2020: Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
^ "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2010: Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
^ U.S. Census Bureau (2014–2018). People Reporting Ancestry American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org
^ U.S. Census Bureau (2014–2018). Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org
^ "Census 2000: Households of Key West, Florida" (PDF). Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ "Data Center Results". Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ Windhorn, Stan & Langley, Wright Yesterday's Key West p.13
^ "The key to restoring conchs". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2006.
^ "History of Key West". Retrieved September 21, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "DOS EXILIOS".
^ "April 2003". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
^ "Key West mayor water skis to Cuba". St. Petersburg Times. September 12, 1978. p. 11B.
^ "Naval Air Station Key West". Naval Air Station Key West. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
^ "Naval Air Station Key West". Naval Air Station Key West. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
^ "KWHMT".
^ "Military History of Key West". Truman Little White House.
^ "United States Navy and the City of Key West, Florida (805)".
^ "Tender Tale – Sub Bases -> New Guinea / South West Pacific".
^ Enright, Tracy J. "SOFIA – Paper – Geology and Hydrogeology of the Florida Keys". Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
^ "Key West FL Newspapers & News Media – ABYZ News Links".
^ "Monroe County School District – School Maps". Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
^ "Sigsbee Charter School: About Us". Retrieved October 14, 2015.
^ "Sigsbee Charter School: Registration Facts". Sigsbee Charter School. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
^ "Key West Montessori Charter School: About Our School". Retrieved October 14, 2015.
^ "Florida Keys Community College". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on June 27, 2014.

Works cited

Newton, Michael (April 14, 2016). A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866. McFarland. ISBN 9781476617190. - Total pages: 316

External links

City of Key West

Universe of Star Wars

The Galaxy
Star Wars location
Lars Homestead on Tatooine, from George Lucas's Star Wars
First appearance	Star Wars (1977)
Created by	George Lucas
Genre	Science fiction
In-universe information
Type	Central continent of fantasy world; also used as a short-hand for the whole legendarium

The Star Wars universe is set in a fictional galaxy originally created by George Lucas, serving as the setting for the Star Wars franchise. It is a vast, diverse galaxy comprising numerous planets, moons, star systems, and species. The galaxy is divided into regions such as the Core Worlds, Mid Rim, Outer Rim Territories, and the Unknown Regions. Notable planets include Coruscant, an ecumenopolis that functions as a political and cultural center, and Tatooine, a desert planet located in the Outer Rim. The galaxy features varied environments, including urban centers, wilderness, and harsh planetary climates.

The galaxy’s population consists of many sentient species, including Humans, Twi’leks, Wookiees, Rodians, and Hutts. Political structures within the galaxy have included the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic, and the First Order, among others. These entities govern through diverse systems ranging from democratic institutions to authoritarian regimes. Space travel is common, with starships utilizing hyperspace routes to traverse large distances between star systems and planets.

Central to the Star Wars universe is the Force, an energy field connecting all living things. The Force has two aspects: the Light Side, practiced by the Jedi Order, and the Dark Side, associated with the Sith. The universe incorporates advanced technology such as starships, droids, and energy-based weapons including lightsabers and blasters. The timeline of the Star Wars galaxy is often referenced relative to the Battle of Yavin, a significant event depicted in the original 1977 film, which serves as a chronological marker for other events in the franchise.

[77] Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.

[78] Official records for Key West were kept at the Weather Bureau in downtown from January 1871 to February 1958, and at Key West Int'l since March 1958. For more information, see ThreadEx.

[area-1] "How Wet is Your State? The Water Area of Each State | U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2023.

[GR1-2] "2010 Census U.S. Gazetteer Files – Places National". United States Census Bureau. n.d. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2020.

[CenPopGazetteer2022-3] "2022 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Florida". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2023.

[Census_2020-4] "P1. Race – Key West city, Florida: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2023.

[GR2-5] "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.

[GR3-6] "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.

[IslandStats-7] "Key West City Information: Regional Setting". February 4, 2006. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.

[chkdist-8] "Distance from Miami, FL to Key West, FL". Retrieved February 14, 2019.

[AcmeMapper-9] "ACME Mapper". ACME Labs. Zoom out, drag map until the center pointer is on the Cuban coast, zoom in and adjust position, then click the 'Markers' button at bottom right of map. Units can be changed via the 'Options' button.

[NHS-10] "Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculator". National Hurricane Center. Coordinates used for Key West (the Whitehead Spit): 24.54410 (N), 81.80486 (W), and for Cuba (a headland just west of Santa Cruz del Norte): 23.18375 (N), 82.0003 (W).

[GR6-11] "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.

[12] "Emerald Keys". Archived from the original on November 7, 2007.

[CenPopGazetteer2016-13] "2016 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 7, 2017.

[NYT122412-14] Alvarez, Lizette (December 24, 2012). "Key West Looks at Identity as It Plots Tourism Future". The New York Times. Retrieved December 25, 2012.

[15] Viele, John (1996). The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. pp. 3, 7. ISBN 978-1-56164-101-7.

[16] "Exploring Florida Documents: Key West: General History and Sketches". Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[17] Windhorn, Stan & Langley, Wright 1973. Yesterday's Key West

[18] Viele, John (1996). The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. pp. 13–16. ISBN 978-1-56164-101-7.

[19] Jerry Wilkinson. "History of Key West". Florida Keys History Museum. Retrieved August 29, 2012.

[20] "Exploring Florida Documents: Key West: The Municipality". Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Retrieved August 29, 2012.

[:1-21] Browne, Jefferson B. (1912). "Chapter 1: General History and Random Sketches". Key West: The Old and the New. St. Augustine, FL: The Record Company Printers and Publishers. p. 7.

[22] "Loading". Archived from the original on October 24, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2011.

[23] Federal Writers' Project (1939). Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 199. ISBN 9781603540094. Retrieved December 2, 2018. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[ReferenceA-24] A Chronological History of Key West A Tropical Island City, Stephen Nichols, 3rd ed.

[25] Solomon, Irvin D.; Erhart, Grace (1999). "Race and Civil War in South Florida". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 77 (3): 320–341. ISSN 0015-4113. JSTOR 30147583.

[26] Solomon & Erhart (1999), 336

[Keith_Salt-27] June Keith, June Keith's Key West & The Florida Keys: A Guide to the Coral Islands (5th ed.: Palm Island Press, 2014), p. 8.

[28] "Marker Details – Key West Historic Markers Project". Retrieved November 25, 2018.

[FOOTNOTENewton201664-29] Newton 2016, p. 64.

[30] Gibson, A. H. (2012). American Gibraltar: Key West during World War II. The Florida Historical Quarterly, 90(4), 393–425. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23264714, pp. 396

[31] "About NWS Key West". National Weather Service Forecast Office – WFO Key West, Florida. Archived from the original on September 16, 2006. Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[32] "Solares Hill". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[33] Ogden, John C. (1994). Everglades: The Ecosystem and Its Restoration. Taylor & Francis. p. 125.

[34] "First person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage or fins". Guinness World Records. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

[35] "Diana Nyad defends Cuba-to-Florida swim as skeptics question use of gear". The Guardian. Associated Press. September 11, 2013. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[36] "Diana Nyad's Cuba to Florida swim breaks one record". Cable News Network. September 1, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

[37] "Old Island Restoration Foundation's Key West Oldest House Museum and Garden". Archived from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[38] "About the Audubon House – Audubon House & Tropical Gardens". Audubon House & Tropical Gardens. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[39] "Fort Zachary Taylor". Fortzacharytaylor.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[40] "Key West Art & Historical Society | Fort East Martello". Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[41] "Tower History". Archived from the original on March 11, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[42] "Key West Art & Historical Society | Lighthouse & Keeper's Quarters". Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[43] "Key West Museum History | Truman Little White House". Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[44] National Park Service (June 4, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form for Dr. Joseph Y. Porter House". Npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved June 22, 2018.

[45] National Park Service (April 11, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form for Eduardo H. Gato House". Npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved June 22, 2018.

[46] "Marker Details – Key West Historic Markers Project". Retrieved March 6, 2024.

[47] "Marker Details – Key West Historic Markers Project". Retrieved March 6, 2024.

[48] Key West Travel Guide, LLC. "Key West Cemetery". Keywesttravelguide.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

[49] Key West Travel Guide, LLC. "Key West Cemetery Map & Self-Guided Tour". Keywesttravelguide.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

[50] US Army Quartermaster (1913). US Army Quartermaster Report of 1912. US War Department. p. 511. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

[51] "Key West Resorts – Waldorf Astoria Casa Marina Hotel – FL". Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[52] "Monroe County, FL – Official Website – Higgs Beach". Retrieved January 5, 2016.

[53] "Key West Vacation Rentals, House Rentals | Professionally Cleaned". Archived from the original on December 2, 2008.

[54] O'Brien, Bridget. "Southernmost Point Buoy In Key West Shines Again". Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[LitRolls-55] "Literature Rolls into Florida Keys". ProQuest 115932306.

[56] O'Hara, Timothy. "Key West Library All Set to Turn 60". Key West Citizen.

[57] "Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys". Archived from the original on April 3, 2023.

[:0-58] Klingener, Nancy (April 18, 2018). "Power Magnet: Key West's Long History Of Presidential Visits". Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[tlwh-59] "Truman Little White House | Key West Museum History". Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[tlwh2-60] "Truman Little White House | Truman Key West visits". Truman Little White House. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[tlwh3-61] "Truman Little White House | Media center". Truman Little White House. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[62] "314 Simonton Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.

[63] McIver, Stuart B. (2002). Hemingway's Key West. Pineapple Press Inc. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-56164-241-0.

[64] "Sloppy Joe's...Yesterday". June 27, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2019.

[65] "907 Whitehead Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.

[66] "Hemingway – The Legend". hemingwayhome.com. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[67] "1431 Duncan Street, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.

[68] "5901 College Road, Key West, Fl" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved January 27, 2015.

[69] Dundy, Elaine (June 9, 2001). "Our men in Havana". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 24, 2019.

[:02-70] Nicholas, Stephen (1989). A Chronological History of Key West: A Tropical Island City. Key West Images of the Past, Inc. ASIN B00071OYLI.

[71] "Koppen climate map". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011.

[NOAA-72] "NOWData – NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

[73] Gutelius, Scott; Stone, Marshall; Varner, Marcus (2003), True Secrets of Key West Revealed!, Key West: Eden Entertainment Limited, ISBN 978-0-9672819-4-0

[74] Key West Citizen "New commissioners' trial by wind and flood" October 27, 2005

[ReferenceB-75] Key West Citizen October 25, 2005, pp 1–2, 6

[76] Key West Citizen "Flooded cars litter the Keys" October 27, 2005

[NOAA_txt-79] "Summary of Monthly Normals 1991–2020". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2021.

[noaasun-80] "WMO Climate Normals for KEY WEST/INTL, FL 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2014.

[Weather_Atlas-81] "Key West, Florida, USA – Monthly weather forecast and Climate data". Weather Atlas. Retrieved February 4, 2019.

[DecennialCensus-82] "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.

[83] "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.

[84] "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.

[85] "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2020: Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.

[86] "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2010: Key West city, Florida". United States Census Bureau.

[87] U.S. Census Bureau (2014–2018). People Reporting Ancestry American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org

[88] U.S. Census Bureau (2014–2018). Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from https://censusreporter.org

[89] "Census 2000: Households of Key West, Florida" (PDF). Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[90] "Data Center Results". Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[91] Windhorn, Stan & Langley, Wright Yesterday's Key West p.13

[92] "The key to restoring conchs". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2006.

[93] "History of Key West". Retrieved September 21, 2015.

[Amigospais-guaracabuya.org-94] "DOS EXILIOS".

[95] "April 2003". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2007.

[news.google.com-96] "Key West mayor water skis to Cuba". St. Petersburg Times. September 12, 1978. p. 11B.

[97] "Naval Air Station Key West". Naval Air Station Key West. Retrieved November 3, 2021.

[98] "Naval Air Station Key West". Naval Air Station Key West. Retrieved November 3, 2021.

[99] "KWHMT".

[100] "Military History of Key West". Truman Little White House.

[101] "United States Navy and the City of Key West, Florida (805)".

[102] "Tender Tale – Sub Bases -> New Guinea / South West Pacific".

[103] Enright, Tracy J. "SOFIA – Paper – Geology and Hydrogeology of the Florida Keys". Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2018.

[104] "Key West FL Newspapers & News Media – ABYZ News Links".

[105] "Monroe County School District – School Maps". Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2015.

[106] "Sigsbee Charter School: About Us". Retrieved October 14, 2015.

[107] "Sigsbee Charter School: Registration Facts". Sigsbee Charter School. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2021.

[108] "Key West Montessori Charter School: About Our School". Retrieved October 14, 2015.

[109] "Florida Keys Community College". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on June 27, 2014.

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v t e Municipalities and communities of Monroe County, Florida, United States
County seat: Key West
Cities	Key Colony Beach Key West Layton Marathon
Village	Islamorada
CDPs	Big Coppitt Key Big Pine Key Cudjoe Key Duck Key Key Largo North Key Largo Stock Island Tavernier
Unincorporated communities	Bay Point Chatham Conch Key Dry Tortugas Garden Cove Jewfish Key Haven Rock Harbor Sugarloaf Shores Summerland Key
Ghost towns	Chevelier Flamingo Indian Key Perky Pigeon Key Pinecrest Poinciana
Florida portal United States portal

v t e Florida Keys
Biscayne National Park	Soldier Ragged Boca Chita Sands Elliott Adams Caesar's Rock Meig's Rubicon Reid Porgy Totten Old Rhodes Islandia
Upper keys	Key Largo Island CDP North Tavernier Plantation Island former CDP Windley Upper Matecumbe Tea Table Indian Lignumvitae Lower Matecumbe Islamorada
Middle keys	Craig Fiesta Long Layton Conch Little Duck Key Island CDP Grassy Crawl Little Long Point Fat Deer Vaca Marathon Key Colony Beach Boot Knights
Lower keys	Pigeon Money Little Duck Missouri Ohio Sunshine Bahia Honda Spanish Harbor Scout (West Summerland) No Name Big Pine Torch Little Middle Big Ramrod Summerland Knockemdown Cudjoe Sugarloaf Park Lower Sugarloaf Saddlebunch Shark Geiger Big Coppitt Island CDP East Rockland Rockland Boca Chica Raccoon Stock Island Island CDP Key West Sigsbee Fleming Sunset Wisteria
Outlying islands	Mule Keys Mule Crawfish Archer Joe Ingram Big Mullet Barracouta Cottrell Man Little Mullet Ballast Woman Boca Grande Marquesas Keys Dry Tortugas Loggerhead Key Tortugas Banks (submerged)
Areas	Florida Bay Dry Tortugas National Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary National Key Deer Refuge John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Biscayne Bay Biscayne National Park Key West National Wildlife Refuge Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Florida Reef
Other topics	Monroe County Conch Republic Overseas Highway Overseas Railroad Card Sound Bridge Jewfish Creek Bridge Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Fort Jefferson Theater of the Sea 1935 Labor Day hurricane Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Irma Key Deer Key lime pie Florida Keys Keynoter Key West Citizen

Pre-Colonial and colonial era (1763-1826)[edit]

American Civil War and 19th century conflicts (1861-1898)[edit]

Civil War[edit]

Post-Civil War era[edit]

10 Years' War[edit]

Spanish-American War[edit]

Early 20th century conflicts (1917-1945)[edit]

World War I[edit]

Interbellum period[edit]

World War II[edit]

Cold War era (1947-1989)[edit]

Post-WW II era[edit]

Cuban Missile Crisis[edit]

Late Cold War / Post-Cold War / Present day era (1989-2019)[edit]

Notable installations[edit]

Facilities[edit]

Auxilary Annexes[edit]

Tenant Commands[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Colonial period

Theories

Green (golf)

Features

History

Putting

So Far... (book)

Background

Content

References

Footnotes

Sources

Hemingway on Fishing

Geography of the Florida Keys

The Florida Keys

GIMBAL

Tic Tac (UFO)

Background

The sighting

End of the American frontier

Geography of .mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px;white-space:nowrap}Table containing a list of modernist novelsNew Hampshire

Geological overview

Physical geography

Economic geography

Key West

History

Precolonial and colonial times

Ownership claims

First developers

American Civil War and late 19th century

20th century

Geography

Notable places

Old Town

Casa Marina

Southernmost point in the United States

Key West Library

"Spoonbill"

Collection

Notable residences

Little White House

Ernest Hemingway house

Tennessee Williams house

Port of Key West

Climate

Wet and dry seasons

Hurricanes

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census

2000 census

"Conchs"

Cuban presence

Government and politics

Mayors

Military presence

Naval Air Station Key West

Media

Geography of Table containing a list of modernist novelsNew Hampshire