| Key West FL is the southernmost city in the | | | | "Bahama Village" is an area of Old town next |
| Continental United States. Key West is a | | | | to the Truman Annex largely inhabited by |
| city and an island by the same name near the | | | | Bahaman immigrants. |
| southernmost tip of the Florida Keys and | | | | |
| encompasses the namesake island, the part of | | | | Fishing, salt production and ocean salvage |
| Stock Island north of US 1, Sigsbee Park and | | | | were major industries in the early 19th |
| Sunset Key. | | | | century. The salvage operations made Key |
| | | | West the largest and richest city in Florida |
| Many passenger cruise ships utilize Key West | | | | and residents had a high concentration of |
| as a seaport. Key West International Airport | | | | fine furniture and fancy chandeliers which |
| also serves the area. Naval Air Station Key | | | | the locals used in their homes after taking |
| West offers a training site for Naval | | | | them from shipwrecks on the Florida reefs. |
| Aviation. | | | | |
| | | | During the Civil War Fort Zachary Taylor was |
| Key West is officially known for having the | | | | established in Key West after Florida seceded |
| nation's first and oldest continuous gay and | | | | and joined the confederate States of America. |
| lesbian chamber of commerce. Thus the city's | | | | It was an important outpost and now contains |
| motto "One Human Family" | | | | the largest collection of Civil War cannons |
| | | | ever discovered in a single location. |
| Kay West was inhabited by ancient peoples | | | | |
| known as the Calusa People in Pre-Columbian | | | | In 1912 Key West was connected to the Florida |
| times. Juan Ponce De Leon was the first | | | | mainland via the Overseas Railway extension. |
| European to visit the area and the island was | | | | The railway created a landfill at Trumbon |
| known as Cayo Hueso. It was established as a | | | | Point for rail yards. In 1935 the Labor Day |
| fishing and salvage village with a small fort | | | | Hurricane destroyed much of the railroad and |
| to protect the Spanish colony. | | | | hilled hundreds. About 400 World War I |
| | | | veterans living in camps there working on |
| Cayo Hueso literally means "bone key" as it | | | | federal road projects and mosquito control |
| is said that the island is littered with the | | | | projects in the Middle Keys were also killed. |
| bones from an Indian battlefield or burial | | | | It was too expensive to restore the |
| ground. It is thought that the name changed | | | | railroad. In 1938 The Federal Government |
| to Key West is an Anglicization of the word | | | | rebuilt the rail lines as an automobile |
| "Hueso" that could mean west in English. | | | | highway. Completed in 1938 it became an |
| Many businesses on the island use the name. | | | | extension of the US Highway 1. The portion |
| | | | of US 1 running though the Keys is called the |
| Great Britain took control of Florida in the | | | | Overseas Highway. |
| late 1700's and relocated the Spaniards and | | | | |
| Indians to Havana. Florida passed back to | | | | Numerous artists and writers have come to the |
| the Spanish 20 years later but they did not | | | | Keys but the two most associated with the |
| formally resettle. The island was used by | | | | island are Ernest Hemmingway and Tennessee |
| fishermen from Cuba and joined by fishermen | | | | Williams. Hemmingway reportedly wrote 2 |
| from the United States. | | | | novels "A Farewell to Arms" and "To Have and |
| | | | Have Not" while living in the Keys. The |
| The island was deeded to Juan Pablo Salis in | | | | Ernest Hemingway House and Sloppy Joes Bar |
| 1815 but when Florida was transferred to the | | | | have become important tourist's attractions. |
| United States Salas was eager to sell the | | | | The Hemingway House is currently inhabited by |
| island. First he sold it for a sloop valued | | | | six or seven toed polydactyl cats descended |
| at $575 and then to a US businessman named | | | | form Hemingway's original pert named |
| Simonton for about $2,000. The sloop trader | | | | "Snowball". The cats live on the grounds and |
| sold it to a man named Geddes who could not | | | | are cared for by the Hemingway House even |
| secure rights to the property because | | | | though the USDA complains about the number of |
| Simonton had help from influential friends in | | | | them housed there. The Key West City |
| Washington and gained clear title. Simonton | | | | Commission exempted the house from a law |
| bought the island because he had learned of | | | | prohibiting more than four domestic animals |
| the opportunities presented by the strategic | | | | per household. |
| location. Simonton's friend John Whitehead, | | | | |
| once stranded on the islands by a shipwreck | | | | Tennessee Williams is said to have written |
| had seen the deep harbor. | | | | the first draft of "A Streetcar Named Desire" |
| | | | while staying at the La Concha Hotel. He |
| Lying 90 in a strategic location on the deep | | | | bought a permanent house and listed Key West |
| shipping lane Straits of Florida the harbor | | | | as his permanent residence. Williams' home |
| was considered the "Gibraltar of the West". | | | | in the "unfashionable" New Town neighborhood |
| Matthew Perry said into the harbor in 1822 | | | | is quite the contrast to the elegant |
| and physically planted the US flag to claim | | | | Hemingway house. It is a very modest |
| it as US property. He reported on the piracy | | | | bungalow. The house is privately owned and |
| problems and renamed it "Thompson's Island" | | | | is not open to the public. The Tenn4essee |
| and named the harbor "Port Rodgers". Neither | | | | Williams Theatre is located on the campus of |
| name stuck. In 1823 Commodore David Porter | | | | Florida Keys Community College on Stock |
| took charge and tried to rule the island as a | | | | Island. |
| military dictator under martial law. | | | | |
| | | | Key West is much closer to Havana than to |
| Simonton soon subdivided the island into | | | | Miami. In 1890 it had a population of nearly |
| plots and sold 3 undivided quarters of each | | | | 18,800 which made it the richest and biggest |
| plot to private individuals. Simonton spent | | | | city in Florida. The population was nearly |
| the winter in Key West and then the summer in | | | | half Cuban descent and the city had a |
| Washington to lobby for development of the | | | | succession of Cuban mayors. Cubans were |
| island and for the establishment of a naval | | | | reportedly active in nearly 200 factories in |
| base. Among other first founders are Pardon | | | | town producing cigars. |
| Green who moved there permanently and became | | | | |
| a prominent businessman. John Whitehead | | | | The Battleship Maine was blown up after |
| lived there for 8 years and partnered with | | | | sailing from Key West to Havana which ignited |
| Greene in the firm of "P.C. Greene and | | | | the Spanish American War. |
| Company". He left the island for good in | | | | |
| 1832 returning only once during the Civil | | | | Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West |
| War. John Fleeming, active in the mercantile | | | | to fly visitors to Havana. |
| business in Alabama was a friend of Simonton. | | | | |
| He spent only a few months in Key West | | | | John Kennedy used the phrase "90 miles to |
| before leaving to marry in Massachusetts. He | | | | Cuba" in his speeches against Fidel Castro. |
| returned to Key West intending to develop the | | | | |
| slat manufacturing of the island but died | | | | There were regular ferry and airplane |
| soon after. The names of these founding | | | | services between Key West and Havana until |
| fathers of modern Key West used as names for | | | | the revelation in 1959. Refugees flooded |
| the main arteries of the island. | | | | into Key West during the Mariel Boatlift and |
| | | | continue to come across the dangerous stretch |
| Many residents of Key West emigrated from the | | | | of waters. |
| Bahamas. They were known as Counch. They | | | | |
| arrived in ever increasing numbers after | | | | In 1982 Key West and the rest of the Keys |
| 1830. Sons and daughters of Loyalists fled | | | | tried to declare independence and become the |
| to the nearest British soil during the | | | | "Conch Republic" in a protest over US Border |
| American Revelation. Many of residents of | | | | Patrol blockades. The blockade was set up in |
| Key West refer to themselves as Conchs and | | | | response to the Mariel Boatlift. This |
| the term is now generally applied to all | | | | blockade created a 17 mile traffic jam when |
| residents of Key West. The term "Fresh Water | | | | the Border Patrol stopped every car to search |
| Counch" refers to a resident not "native | | | | for illegal immigrants. The Florida Keys |
| born" but who has lived there for more than | | | | were virtually paralyzed as tourism nearly |
| seven years. The name is derived from the | | | | ground to a halt. Couch Republic flags and T |
| tradition of placing a conch shell on a pole | | | | shirts are still popular souvenirs for |
| at the home of a new born baby. | | | | visitors. The Counch Republic Independence |
| | | | Celebration is celebrated each April 23. |