This Week on the Island 08/28/2016

  ‘This Week on the Island’ is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.

Weather: Forcast for next 3 months: Hot and humid with a chance for showers. Maybe a Hurricane or two.

The book this week was ‘Tanzi Heat’ by C. I. Dennis.

Not much happening this week. Lots of rain and warnings of a possible hurricane coming has kept the island fairly empty.

SO: (click the pics to enlarge).

I like old maps. This is Key West in 1850. Think of it as just before the Civil War.

The pond in the center of the picture was a salt pond and today would have been on Green Street and behind Sloppy Joe’s. The ocean filled the pond at high tide and then the channel was block. The water evaporated and the salt that was left was sold to preserve meat, etc. The channel going to the ocean would have been about where Conch Republic Seafood is now.

Key West 1920: 70 years later.

The large round fuel tanks in the lower front of the picture is where the Sunset Pier  Hotel sits now. The street just to the left of the fuel tanks is Duval Street. The pier to the left of Duval Street is where the Pier House is now.

Key West 1936.

The fuel tanks are still here, but down the water front to the right the first little square of water is where the Key West Aquarium is now. There is a bridge over this water now and it goes from Mallory Square to the Westin Hotel. The four roofs where the hotel is now has the Customs House behind it and to the right of the Customs House is the current Mel Fisher Museum.

Key West 1950

This one is where the Key West Bight is now. You can tell from the muddy water that they are in the process of ‘dredge and fill’ to build the shoreline we have today. Nothing here should look very familiar as the area we know has not been built yet. The road to the far left is Trumbo Road and the structure at the bottom of the picture is the land built by Flagler for the railroad. That area belongs to the military now.

Key West today

Hope you enjoyed a little pictorial history of the island of Key West.

This is the Key West we currently know and love.

Key West you have got to love it
'Close to Perfect, far from Normal’
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5591N, Long 81.8016W

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