Fish caught on the Mae West, circa 1940
A day’s catch on the Mae West with Captain Johnnie Wes, circa 1960
Postcard of the County Courthouse in Key West
Playing catch in the street in Key West, 1935.
Source: Dale M. McDonald Collection
Boat grounded at Christmas Tree Island, also known as Wisteria Island. The island was created at the turn of the twentieth century due to the U.S. Navy’s dredging of Key West harbor.
Source: Cory McDonald Collection
Key West home being repaired by Federal Emergency Relief Administration workers after the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane which killed up to 600 people. It was one of only three category five hurricanes to make landfall in the 20th century.
Source: George A. Smathers Libraries
The “Miss To Nicey” shrimp boat passing Mallory Square during a shrimp fleet blessing ceremony in Key West, ca. 1975.
Source: Dale McDonald Collection
The Cunard Ambassador cruise ship was towed to port in Key West after it caught fire while at sea in 1974. Luckily, there were no passengers on board and fatalities among the crew. After being sold, it caught fire again ten years later and was sold again, this time for scrap.
Source: The Cory McDonald Collection
A blimp from the Naval Air Station in Key West refueling from a submarine off of Key West.
Source: Cory McDonald Collection
Optimo cigar label for A. Santaella Cigar Company featuring Sr. Antonio Santaella, 1900.
Antonio Santaella opened cigar factories in New York in 1889, in Key West a few years later and in Tampa in 1905. His factories distributed their cigars in Chicago, the Mississippi Valley, the West, and as a publicity stunt shipped a carload of their cigars to Nome, Alaska. The company’s leading label was “Optimo” meaning “the very best.”
Yesterday's Paradise
