Key West History
Key West sports a long, colorful and at time dubious past inspiring hundreds, thousands of pages from writers, portraits from artists, statues from sculptors . . . there's a magic here that exists in only a handful of places on the planet. What follows is an account, one account, my account, of the history of Key West, as I have heard it, read of it, and feel it at night when I ride the silent empty streets listening to the racous voices of the spirts of the past who built upon this island with the same zeal that they built San Francisco -- on a spot where most people would never dream of building anything.
Simply
speaking, Key West is a freak of nature.
Situated on a lip between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, created
from sand, shells, silt and sea creatures washed up to a high point via
tidal currents and trade winds, the island sits a mere four feet above
sea level, the crowned interior crested peak of a reef running along the
edge of the Atlantic.
The reef keeps Key West alive. This is a story about Key West, and a love affair with that reef, the water and sun that surround it.
Called Cayo Hueso or Bone Island by the natives, Key West has meant many things to many different sets of people throughout the Western history North America. We'll stick to western history, because we need to stick to something or we'll be here forever.
Key
West was founded by British ex-patriots fleeing persecution from the newly-founded
United States. Many of from the Bahamas to Key West because of political
differences. One of the famous emigrants is William Curry, shown here:
William Curry, born in Green Turtle Cay in 1821, was descended from the Loyalists. At the age of 16 he moved to Key West where he became a successful merchant investing in the stock market. It is said that he ate from solid gold table service, plates and a service set for 24 people. In 1896 when he died, William Curry was the richest man in Florida, its first millionaire.
The Curry Mansion
Whenever you are in downtown Key West, visit or stay at the Curry Mansion.
The Curry family has lived in Florida since before 1857 and was also one of
the first families to settle Key West, Florida, and to develop Key West back
when Florida’s
government was nearly non-existent. You'll love the libertarian lifestyle of
the Keys. There is a tour of historic Key West that includes the rich history
of Curry Capitalists. Enjoy the famous Key Lime Pie as it was first created
in the mansion's kitchen at the turn of the century by the Curry's cook, Aunt
Sally! And try to see Curry Key near the Everglades at the south end of Florida.
The grand manor was named for William Curry, a penniless Bahamian immigrant
who made his fortune reputedly as a salvager -those heroic fellows who rescued
shipwrecked travelers in Florida's pirate-infested waters around the Bahamas
and Key West. It was an example of private police and rescue. After moving
from the Bahamas Islands, Curry attained status as Key West's first millionaire
and began building the Mansion in 1855.
Key West, Florida is the Sister City to New Plymouth, Bahamas. Key West opened
a sculpture garden modeled after the Sculpture Garden of New Plymouth. Many
of the residents of Key West can trace their roots to early settlers from New
Plymouth Cay and other Bahamas Islands. They sailed with their Bahama homes
on barges in the 1830's. William Curry, Florida's first millionaire, was a
15 year old boy when his family made the move from Green Turtle Cay. As late
as 1912, 60% of the residents of Key West were Bahamian seafarers. Key West
and New Plymouth fly each others flags to celebrate the Sister City relationship.
Another Curry residence, the Curry House Building, is located on Shirley Street, Royal Victoria Compound, Nassau, Bahamas.Also try to visit Curry Key in the Bahama Islands.
In addition to the Curry Mansion, Key West also boasts the historic Curry House at 806 Fleming Street. The Curry House is a Bed and Breakfast. The house was built in New Plymouth, Bahamas and shipped to Key West.
Wreckers and Spongers
In the days prior to the industrial revolution, the island was dominated by 'wreckers' and 'spongers'. A wrecker was a man who salvaged boats when they ran aground on the reef. The wreckers would catch sight of the wreck, and then race out the site, the first wrecker there getting his pick of salvage and spoils. Most of the early houses in Key West were built from the lumber of shipwrecks, most of the early foodstuffs, tools and what not came from wrecks, too.
This picture below shows how the Key West bight looked many years ago:
And
business was good back then, because of the reef. Because ships coming in
from the deep blue ocean were never prepared for the wall of land that shot
up from the depths from out of nowhere. By the time the captains would realize
their position, it was too late. The ships would run aground, and the wreckers
would come and salvage them.They
salvaged the passengers, as well, charging them the price of their belongings
in trade for their lives.
Most
passengers took this as a bargain.The
wreckers would take the passenger to shore, and then put them on the first
boat out of town.
Normally,
the stranded passengers like it here, but community accepted only the heartiest
of hangers-on, and as such most people found themselves on the first boat
out of town.
The
wreckers will be discussed further on down the line.
The spongers lives were less fraught with peril, simply diving for naturally occurring sponges the grow still within the placcid confines of the reef, albeit they encountered tribulations of their own. The native spongers dove, as stated, but the arrival of the Greeks and the development of a long sponging pole nearly put the divers out of business, they retaliated, and sponging ended up being outlawed altogether, which was okay, because between the two groups they had plucked nearly every last sponge from the area.
Then Henry Flagler built a railroad and everything changed.
The railroad, too, was a freak, but a super-charged freak of Man's passionate desire to create the uncreatable. They said it couldn't be done, when he spoke with fervor of connecting the keys with rail, they said the terra would never abide, but the great spirit that was Henry Flagler persevered, crew members died, suffered disease and hunger, suffered hurricanes, yet continued to build tie by tie, tressel by tressel, linking the island chain to the mainland piece by piece.
Sponging had come to an end, a inland lighthouse had been built, so the ships wrecked less often, the economy of Key West shifted to cigars.
In the early part of this century, Key West was the cigar capital of the nation. Huge tobacco factories imported tobacco from Cuba, then a capitalist state, rolled the cigars and sent them up Flagler’s railroad all the way to New York. Those were prosperous days for the city, far removed the stoic, slightly sordid, yet rugged life of the wreckers.
Henry
Flagler owned Key West at the time.
He
purchased in a shady land deal, in which the sellers of the land sold it
to two people. Henry Flagler won, and became the owner of the island. He
built the railroad, and allowed the island to prosper in the tobacco industry.
In the early thirties, great fires, hurricane, and government intervention
destroyed the island, and for a time it became a military base, a far cry
removed from the freedom of the wrecking days. The locals remained, though
most of the island was owned by the government, creating yet another strange
scenario.
The islanders, loving their freedom of survival on their on two feet, and the military's desire for strict order, created an interesting juxtaposition on the island that lasted throughout the through the Second World War. Then the government started slowly selling the property back to the state, who sold it back to the people who'd lived there for generations.
