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Home , 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Duck Key, Florida Bay, Knights Key, Little Duck Key, Little Torch Key

Keys Sea Heritage Journal

VOL. 21 NO. 2 WINTER 2010/11 USS SHARK

OFFICIAL QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Crossing at and The Island Community of

By Thomas Neil Knowles Copyright 2011 “In memory of Edith “Billie” Chesser Hancock (1933-2011) whose memories and family information inspired and enhanced this article.” Smoke from Civil War battlefields had barely cleared when the president of the International Ocean Telegraph Company, General W. F. “Baldy” Smith, dispatched a survey party into the wilds of . After years of negotiations a forty-year agreement had finally been worked out with the government of Spain, giving the company an exclusive cable landing on the western coast of . The logical place to cross the Florida Straits was the narrow, 90- mile-wide gap between Key in 1866. Photo credit: the Author. and . Now the problem a submarine cable laid from Key the chain of islands that formed was to find the best route to bring West to Punta Rassa, a spit of land the eastern rim of the . the cable from Key West to the at the mouth of the Caloosahachee Water openings between the islands mainland of Florida and the IOTC River near Fort Myers on the would be crossed by driving steel telegraph system at Lake City. For west coast of Florida. From there piles into the submerged bedrock that task Baldy Smith hired a highly landlines would carry the signal to and installing wooden telegraph respected civil engineer, J. C. Bailey Lake City. The competing route poles into the ends of the piles that of Toronto. would use landlines from Lake City protruded above the high water Bailey was told to explore two down to Fort Dallas (later known (Continued on page 3) promising routes. One would use as ) then continue across Society News and Notes by John Viele

The Florida Keys Sea Heritage Journal is published quarterly. Subscription is available through membership. Copyright 2011 by the Key West Maritime Historical Society of the Florida Keys, Inc. Submarine Squadron 12 at U.S. Naval Station about 1970. Photo credit: Monroe The art on the masthead, the USS County Library. Shark, was drawn by Bill Muir. Tom Hambright Honored replace him He’s truly a treasure.” Tom Hambright, Society Tom said, “I can’t imagine doing a Editor: Tom Hambright Board Member, Treasurer, and job I didn’t love, I will keep doing Sea Heritage Journal Editor, was this as long as my brain keeps honored by the Monroe County working and the body holds out. It’s Letters and articles are welcome. Commission for his 25 years of still fun.” Please write to: Editor, Florida Keys service as head of the Florida Sea Heritage Journal, KWMHS, P.O. History Room at the Key West Truman Waterfront Historical Box 695, Key West, FL 33041. Public Library and as Monroe Markers County Historian. He has been Ed Little, Society President and Key West Maritime Historical Society of inestimable help to reporters, John Viele are collaborating on the Board of Directors historians, government officials, design, text, and photographs of genealogists, and many others. the first of a series of signs to be President: Edward J.Little,Jr. Norma Kula, director of the Monroe installed at the Truman Waterfront. Vice President: Bill Verge County Public Library, has said The first sign will tell the history of Secretary: Corey Malcom of him, “There’s no one who can the Key West U.S Naval Station Treasurer: Tom Hambright Thank You from the Editor wife, Lynda, who worked with for The Key West Citizen’s Andrea Comstock 17 year, Betty Bruce who founded articles and the community’s George Craig the Florida Room in the 1960s, the acknowledgement of my 25 years Bill Grosscup support of the Key West Library staff as Monroe County Historian was Tom Hambright and the tax payers and government humbling and satisfying experience. Mary Haffenreffer of Monroe County who funded and It was gratifying to have people John Jones operated the Library system for the stop me on the street to express Sheri Lohr past 51 years. Thank you for a great their satisfaction with the service Joan Langley 25 years, I hope to be here for a few provided by the Monroe County Julie McEnroe more years. Library and the Florida Room. Bill Verge What I have accomplished would have been impossible without my Tom Hambright New Member Shirley & L.T. Perpall, Key West.

2 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 (Pigeon Key from page 1) mark. Although the Punta Rassa route was selected, the survey of the Keys route had some benefit. When Bailey conveyed his findings to the company in 1866 he included comments on the feasibility of constructing a rail line to Key West. The coordination of rail traffic required ready access to telegraph service so, this was relevant to his analysis. There had been great interest in providing rail service to Key West, which in 1860 was one of the wealthiest cities per capita in the . Bailey’s résumé included extensive railroad work and his determination that the project was a viable proposition was welcomed by proponents. The civil engineer believed construction of the railroad would be straightforward except at several The Florida East Coast Railway crossing ran between Knights Key and Little major waterways that carried tidal . Photo credit: the Author. flows between the and the . He two small islands situated in the Keys where larger vessels can identified the broad expanse of waterway. ’s name access from the Florida water between Knights Key and derived from the rumored discovery Straits. (now Pacet Key) of pieces of eight on the island. Constructing the Crossing as the most difficult and expensive Pigeon Key is believed to have When approved to cross. been named by Spanish explorers the project to extend rail service to Located 40 miles east of Key who were impressed by the large Key West in 1904, his Florida East West, the seven-mile-wide water flocks of white-crowned pigeons Coast Railway (FECR) terminated opening feeds a part of Florida Bay they found in the area. two miles southeast of Homestead that was known to local fishermen Stretching almost across at Florida City. Construction of and spongers as Money Key Lake Florida Bay, the lakes merge at the Key West Extension began in and Pigeon Key Lake (see above). their southern ends into a channel 1905. The planned route took the They are not lakes in the traditional having a breadth of a half mile and line across 19 miles of the eastern sense, but are areas of deeper water an average depth of over 20 feet. to Jewfish Creek, a surrounded by shallow banks or Named , it is one of navigable waterway that separates flats. the few passages along the Florida (Continued on page 4) In the late 1800s Money Key Lake had a typical depth of 9 to 10 The label “Knights Key” has been used on U.S. Coast & Geodetic feet while Pigeon Key Lake was a Survey charts to identify the island immediately west of Hog Key and little deeper at 11 to 12 feet. Beds related water features such as “Knights Key Channel and Knights Key of wool, yellow, grass, and glove Harbor.” Some writers have used the term “Knight’s Key.” In this sponges of superior quality thrived article the island and related features are indicated by “Knights Key,” in the lakes and the adjacent Knights the name used in the right-of-away maps and company literature of Key Channel until over-harvesting the Florida East Coast Railway, by historian Jefferson Browne, and by depleted them. many natives of the Florida Keys. The lakes were named after

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 3 The crossing consisted of four major structures. Photo credit: the Author.

(Pigeon Key from 3) across Pigeon Key to connect the eastern end to clear a trestle that ran straightaways. The small island under it. The viaduct across Pacet the mainland from the Florida Keys. provided the firm foundation Channel was a concrete spandrel From there the rails traversed 29 required to resist the enormous structure with graceful arches. islands and 43 waterways to reach forces that can be exerted when the The trestle running under Key West. Water covered 37 miles heavy mass of a train makes a turn. the Knights Key led to a of the 106 mile route, but extensive Construction of the crossing mammoth, stand-alone wooden fills, particularly in the Upper Keys, was divided into four segments dock built by the FECR to serve reduced the amount of bridging to identified as the Knights Key as a temporary port for ocean- 17 miles. The waterway between Bridge, Pigeon Key Bridge, Moser going ships carrying cement, Knights Key and Little Duck Key, Channel Bridge, and the Pacet crushed rock, sand, piling, and the one identified by Bailey as the Channel Viaduct (see above). other construction materials. The most difficult and costly to cross, Each segment had a distinctive transport of large quantities of was to account for 41% of the feature. The three consisted these materials required the use of Extension’s bridging. of steel girders mounted atop deep draft vessels, which required a FECR engineers designed massive concrete piers. The Moser deep-water port that did not exist in the crossing with a 4.8-mile Channel Bridge featured a swing the middle Florida Keys. The dock straightaway running from Little truss drawbridge almost as long was constructed during the latter Duck Key to the west side of as a football field located a mile part of 1906 and was operational by Pigeon Key and another 2.2-mile west of Pigeon Key. The Pigeon the end of the year. Located north straightaway running from Knights Key Bridge had the curved section of the Sombrero Reef Lighthouse at Key to the east side of Pigeon Key. described above. The Knights Key the tip of a finger of deeper water An elevated, 600-foot section of Bridge had the highest elevation that intrudes into the banks of Hawk track curved 12 degrees, 57 minutes rising to a height of 31 feet at its Channel, it was easily accessed from

4 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 the Florida Straits. With an average depth over 20 feet the passage was an ideal site for the port (see page 5). Six hundred feet long and 75 feet wide, the Knights Key dock was equipped with storage bins for crushed stone and screened gravel, and featured a crane that could reach directly into a ship’s hold to move material to the storage bins on the dock. The materials were later removed from the bins to shallow- draft barges for distribution to worksites. A customs office, small passenger station, and staff quarters completed the facility. A 2,000 foot temporary trestle connected the dock to Knights Key (right). In December 1907, 83 miles of track from Homestead to Knights Key became operational. A month later passenger service to Key West and Havana, Cuba via the Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Company was relocated from Miami to the Knights . Knights Key Dock was located 5 miles due north of the Sombrero Key Key Dock, which became the new Lighthouse and the Florida Straits. It provided a deep-water facility where southern terminus of the FEC Railway. ocean-going ships could unload materials for transfer to shallow-draft For the next four years the wooden barges for delivery to railroad construction sites. Photo credit: the Author. structure served as the transfer station At peak activity, 400 workmen from Pigeon Key to other locations; for the railroad’s Havana Special. and the engineering staff were however, the island was not To house the large number housed on the 5-acre island. deserted. Bridge tenders, who had of workers required to build the As construction on the crossing become residents when the Moser crossing, camps were erected in neared completion, engineers Channel drawbridge was completed 1907 at each end and on the barren and work crews were moved patch of land known as Pigeon Key. (Contined on page 6)

: The Knights Key Dock as seen from the Knights Key Bridge. A free-standing wooden platform the length of two football fields, the dock was connected to Knights Key by a temporary trestle. The Knights Key Bridge, which was built over the trestle, was designed with sufficient clearance to allow trains to continue accessing the dock. Bottom: The trestle emerges on the north side of the Knights Key Bridge and curves around to Knights Key in the distance. Photo credit: State of Florida Photographic Archives.

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 5 Pigeon Key evolved during the first three decades of the 20th Century from a deserted island, to a camp that housed four hundred workers, to a community that in 1935 was home for fifty people including nine families with fifteen children. Photo credit: the Author.

(Pigeon Key from page 5) Line discontinued service to from the abuse it suffered as a construction camp. The island’s in January 1911, continued to live the facility. Passengers on the remoteness was both a blessing there as did maintenance crews FECR’s Havana Special were now and a curse to the bridge tenders that had also been based there transferred to the steamer at Key and maintenance personnel who during construction.- Maintenance, West, which became the southern lived there. Mosquitoes were not painting in particular, was never- terminus of the Florida East Coast a problem because of the distance ending; the girders, drawbridge, Railway. The huge wooden dock from breeding grounds on larger and various fittings and equipment in the Knights Key Channel was keys, but the remoteness from other contained almost a million square abandoned and eventually burned settlements meant that opportunities feet of steel surface that would to the waterline. Work continued on for the residents to get away from quickly rust if exposed to the salt- the Extension until 1916, primarily the workplace and socialize with laden atmosphere. at Key West and at various locations other people were few and far In January 1912 the crossing was on the Keys where wooden trestles between. opened for regular service and the were replaced with more durable The railroad delivered books Extension became operational all the concrete structures. The Community of Pigeon Key and newspapers, but there was little way to Key West. Simultaneously, For years Pigeon Key remained available in the way of recreational the trestle to the Knights Key dock barren of foliage and disfigured activities and other diversions was closed and the P & O Steamship

6 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 on the island. The situation was especially hard on men away from their families and turnover became a problem, particularly among the skilled positions. The FECR began encouraging employees with families to bring them to the island and homes were built. Pigeon Key gradually took on the domesticated look of a community with coral rock fences demarcating residences (see page 6). Trees and small gardens were planted and abandoned structures were recycled or demolished. By 1922 there were 19 children of school age living on the island. Train schedules did not permit daily commuting to schools on the Keys so the Pigeon Key families pushed for the establishment of one on the island. An agreement was worked out between the FECR and the Monroe County School Board, and in January 1923 the County provided a teacher and the railroad provided the facilities for the school. The immediate problem faced by the first school teacher, Miss Eloise Curtis, was the lack of furniture and equipment. As an incentive for the FECR to allow the school, the residents volunteered to build the necessary desks, benches, and blackboards if the company would provide the materials. The company shipped the $35 worth of materials Top: Teacher Edith Carnom and her students stand outside the Pigeon Key promptly, but the furniture did not schoolhouse on December 22, 1926. Edna Louise Hines, age 12, is on her teacher’s right. Her sister, Esther Hines, is third from the right. Photo credit: get built. Miss Curtis complained State of Florida Photographic Archives. to the FECR management. She Bottom: A close up view of the teacher and her class taken on the same day. received a letter dated May 7, Edna Hines is standing at the rear on the left. Her sister Esther is standing at the 1923 from the Engineer of the Way extreme right. Photo credit: Edith Chesser Hancock. stating that Robert Kyle and John Chesser, resident employees, were the senior employees on Pigeon from the construction era. In the capable of constructing the benches Key, he and his family lived on mid 1920s Calhoun Hines, who and desks, and that he was sure they Pigeon Key until he died in 1926. was staying with his son’s family, would do so if shown the letter. R. Apparently the letter had the desired built a one-room schoolhouse at T. Kyle had overseen the assembly effect and the furnishings were built the northwest corner of the island of the mechanism that rotates the for the school. next to the dock. Painted red and swing drawbridge and was the first The school was initially housed topped with a surplus locomotive designated bridge tender. One of in a patched-up building left over (Continued on page 8)

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 7 were listed as FECR employees. Nine families lived on the islands with a total of 15 children and one dependent adult. Fifteen employees, all laborers, were unaccompanied. The census recognized two racial categories; “White” and “Colored”. Of the residents, 19 were classified as White while 31 were classified as Colored. (see page 14) The oldest resident of the island was 61-year-old Lucy Lueders, the dependent sister of the paint foreman. Six-month-old John Vernon Chesser, the foreman’s son, was the youngest. Edna Hines Chesser and her daughter, His father, John Edgar Chesser, Edith Lucretia Chesser circa 1935 at was an interesting fellow who was Pigeon Key. Photo credit: Edith Chesser born and raised in on an Hancock. island in the Okeefenokee Swamp (Pigeon Key from page 7) near the Florida state line. His Summary of selected census data. grandparents had settled there in bell and towering flagstaff, the little living in an isolated community. the 1840s. Living off the land and wood frame building was used as He was assigned to the Knights Key water, the family had minimal a place of learning for almost ten Bridge project and lived in the work contact with the outside world and years. A photograph of the school camp on Pigeon Key. He stayed on thrived on the 596 acre island that taken in 1926 shows the teacher, the island when construction crews bears their name. When John Edgar Edith Carnom, posing with eight moved on working first as a bridge left Chesser Island to work for the students including two of Hines’ tender then as paint foreman. railroad he was well adapted to granddaughters, Edna and Esther Chesser had a rifle and, although Hines. (See Page 7) During the , other than the isolation, the residents of the Pigeon Key had a relatively good situation. Housing, provisions, potable water, and even ice were supplied by the railroad. A generator provided electricity for the island. Occasionally some of the men would take the workboat out and bring back nice catches of fish. Homeless people sometimes showed up on the island getting there by stowing away on a train or hiking across the bridge. They were fed and sent on their way. The State of Florida census taken in the spring of 1935 provides a snapshot of the community that evolved. At that time a total of 50 Raleigh and Tina Hines. Their daughter Edna married 41-year-old John Chesser in 1928 people were recorded as residents. when she was 14. Right: John Edgar Chesser with his dog on the east side of Pigeon Of these, 24 men and one circa 1923. Photo credit: Edith Chesser Hancock.

8 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 not a sworn law officer, was who owned the hogs and whether responsible for keeping order on or not the owner would consider the island.- In this endeavor he keeping the hogs in a pen. Chesser had the assistance of “Big Black responded that the hogs were his Henry,” a laborer with a powerful and he considered it cruel to place build (believed to have been Henry them in a pen. He also reported Reed from South Carolina).- that no one had complained to him Every now and again there would about the situation and that the be a disturbance in the dormitory hogs relished eating the sandspurs housing the unaccompanied that were a nuisance to children laborers. Chesser would rap the and adults alike. The hogs were a butt of his rifle on the side of the female and male named Bingum building; if that failed to have the and Bangum desired effect, Big Black Henry was The task of resolving the issue sent in to restore the peace. fell to F. W. Humphries, Supervisor On November 25, 1923, of the 4th Division, who visited the someone (believed to have been island and diligently interviewed the male teacher assigned to the several of the resident wives of school at the time) wrote the general employees, one of whom was Mrs. manager of the railroad that “hogs Myrtle Chesser. The women said were running wild on Pigeon Key” the hogs were not a problem because and complained that the animals the children played in their yards, Raleigh Hines and others often fished in interfered with the children trying which were surrounded by fences the adjacent waters bringing in catches to use the playground. About made of coral rocks. Apparently such as this jewfish (now known as goliath 10 days later, Chesser received a this satisfied management and the grouper). The elevated cypress tanks in the background held fresh water delivered letter from the divisional general hog incident was laid to rest. by train from the mainland. Photo credit: foreman requesting that he find out (Continued on page 10) Marshall L. Brewton Jr.

Potable water for Pigeon Key and other FEC Railway installations including the station and yard at Key West was delivered from the mainland in cypress water tanks carried aboard flatcars. At Pigeon Key the water was transferred to elevated tanks located adjacent to the track The latter were attached to concrete piers so that they hung over the water on the east and west sides of the island. Part of the west outhouse/shower is visible above on the leftmost pier. Photo credit: State of Florida Photographic Archives.

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 9 North side of Pigeon Key circa mid 1920s. The tops of the elevated fresh water tanks are visible at the extreme left. A chute for receiving blocks of ice can be seen extending down from the north platform. The Chesser family’s home and the schoolhouse are on the right. Photo credit: Publication of Archival Library & Museum Materials.

(Pigeon Key from page 9) older than his wife and six years for the pregnant wife of an FECR Sometime during the next five older than his father-in-law. employee to take the train to St. years the Chessers terminated their Edna had two daughters and a Augustine where she gave birth marriage for reasons unknown. In son by Chesser, the first in 1930 at the company’s hospital. Edna 1928 John Edgar Chesser married when she was sixteen. Although the was so fond of her teacher, Edith Raleigh Hines’ fourteen- year- Chessers lived on Pigeon Key, the Carnom, that she named her second old daughter, Edna Louise Hines. children were not born in the Florida daughter after her. Chesser was twenty-seven years Keys. It was standard procedure Life on the island was what one

The island as viewed looking east from the the Moser Channel Bridge. trees and Austrailian Pines were the most common shade trees. At one time a Poinciana tree grew south of the track that was so beautiful when in bloom the train would stop to let the passengers take pictures. Photo credit: Publication of Archival Library & Museum Materials.

10 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 In 1937 railroad bridges were modified to make a continuous highway to Key West. Above right: The Pigeon Key Bridge is widened to accommodate two lanes of automotive traffic by placing steel beams across the girders. Left: Entrance to the Knights Key Bridge after modification. Forty miles of rails salvaged from the defunct railroad were used make the guardrails for the bridge between Knights Key and Little Duck Key. Photo credit: State of Florida Photographic Archives.

made of it, and for at least one of the but her temperament was affected to see who was best at trimming a children it was paradise. “Pigeon by the weather. “Come a northeast kerosene hurricane lamp wick so Key was a wonderful place,” wind or nice cool breeze, that old that the flame burned evenly across recalled Edna’s sister, Esther Hines cow would chase me!” said Esther, the wick’s width. The flame judged Diver, at age 88. “I was 5 years adding that she was sure Naomi to have the flattest top was declared old when I went there and I was 17 meant no harm and was just having the winner. when I left. I lived, you might say, fun. According to Esther, there The End of the Railroad Era my whole childhood was there on were “plenty of cats and dogs.” The On the evening of September that four acre island. I had my own island also had its share of chicken 2, 1935, Labor Day, the center of little boat and I would go fishing. coops and, of course, the two hogs, a category 5 hurricane crossed the We caught snappers, groupers, Bingum and Bangum, who helped Florida Keys 23 miles northeast of yellowtail, grunts, kingfish, with garbage disposal and sandspur Pigeon Key. Edith Chesser, who mackerel, barracuda. If we decided control. was two-years-old at the time, was we wanted to have a fresh fish for There was no church on the placed on top of the dining room breakfast in the morning we’d run island. Once In a while some folks table to keep her out of the rising out and jump in the boat and run out would come on the Sunday morning water. Fortunately the island there, and push out offshore, and in train and hold religious services, was on the weak side of the storm five minutes we’d have fish, come then leave on the evening train, and, although the wind and tide out, clean ‘um and fry ‘um up for but this occurred so seldom that it combined to cover the Key with breakfast. My mother fried many a had little effect. As Esther Hines several feet of water, there were no fish for our breakfast.” observed, “If you was a heathen significant injuries and no major There was a one-legged pelican when you got there, you left (a damage. that frequented the dock and jumped heathen).” The same could not be said for in the water along with the children From mid June until late in the the Upper Keys where hundreds when they went swimming. A cow fall hurricanes kept all resident of lives were lost and a 38-mile named Naomi roamed the island of the island on their toes. The freely and was normally very docile, women held an annual competition (Continued on page 12)

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 11 (Pigeon Key from page 11) section of track from to Tavernier was destroyed. The destruction of track immediately ended the railroad’s delivery of provisions, potable water, and other necessities to its facilities along the Extension including Pigeon Key. Several days later when the full extent of the damage became known, nonessential personnel were evacuated to Key West and the island was used as the western base for boats involved in search and rescue operations. Chesser and his family were subsequently relocated to Jupiter, Florida where he became a bridge tender. At 9 A.M. on March 29, 1938, a ceremony was held on the Pigeon Key Bridge (see The Key West Extension had inset) to officially open the first continuous highway from the mainland to Key West. The been in operation for 23 years daughter of the Cuban consul in Key West, Ida Rodriguez, was given the honor of cutting when the storm struck and had the ribbon in recognition of the international significance of the roadway in promoting never been a financial success. The tourism between the U.S. and Cuba. The ceremony was repeated at Lower Matecumbe invention and rapid deployment of Key in the afternoon. Photo credit: State of Florida Photographic Archives. shipboard refrigeration soon after mainland to outfit a new facility at was constructed in 1938 from the the line became operational erased Port Everglades north of Miami. elevated bridge down to the island the attractiveness of Key West as a Relieved of the cost of maintaining and the Pigeon Key Fishing Camp transshipment point for perishable the line across the Florida Keys, the opened. The camp was described cargoes from Central America FECR’s railroad ferry operation to in a 1939 guidebook as featuring and the . The lucrative Cuba became a profitable activity. “. . . parking spaces for cars and freight traffic anticipated for the In 1937 Monroe County and trailers; facilities for shuffleboard Extension never materialized. the State of Florida concluded an and horseshoe pitching; picnic Without adequate income to offset agreement for acquiring all the grounds; boats for outside fishing.” steadily rising maintenance costs, infrastructure of the Extension The camp was managed by George the Extension was becoming an including right-of-way and bridges. Schutt, who was the manager of the increasingly heavy burden on With the exception of the Snake world-renowned Fishing the FECR’s bottom line. The Creek trestle, the bridges and Camp when it was destroyed by Great Depression exacerbated viaducts had suffered no structural the . At the financial problems that beset damage. By 1938 the water this time the bridges and viaduct the Florida East Coast Railway, crossings and roadbed from Big across the waterway were known and forced the railroad to declare Pine Key to Lower Matecumbe collectively as the “Knights Key bankruptcy and go into receivership Key had been converted for use Bridge” or “Long Bridge”. in September 1931. by cars and trucks and connected The situation in Europe preceding The destruction of a significant to the existing highway to form a the Second World War prompted portion of the Extension by continuous although circuitous a military buildup at Key West in natural forces made abandonment from the mainland to Key West. the late 1930s and early 1940s. of the line politically tolerable Pigeon Key continued to be The city had no source of potable and economically fortuitous. used to quarter bridge tenders water other than rainfall, which the Within six weeks after the Labor and some maintenance personnel, inhabitants collected in privately- Day hurricane, the railroad ferry but they were now in the employ owned cisterns. After Pearl Harbor, facility at Key West was stripped of the Overseas Road and Toll new installations were being built and the equipment moved to the Bridge District. A wooden ramp and manned at such a rate that the

12 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 Soon after the opening of the highway, a wooden ramp was constructed from Pigeon Key Bridge to the island. A necessity for highway employees quartered there, the ramp also allowed the motoring public access to a fish camp that opened on the island. Photo credit: the Author’s Collection. lack of an adequate supply of fresh After the war the crossing at toll collections. On April 15, 1954, water was threatening military the Knights Key Channel and the Governor Charlie Johns dissolved readiness. Further complicating Money Key and Pigeon Key Lakes the District and discontinued tolls matters was the poor condition of became a tourist attraction and on the . the highway. Built in the 1920s, it was touted as one of the wonders On September 4, 1954 Pigeon could not accommodate the heavy of the world. By the early 1950s Key was deeded to Monroe County. loads of supplies needed to support promoters began referring to it as In 1968 the island was leased for the military. the . twenty years to the University of These problems were quickly Pigeon Key never returned to the Miami for marine research and addressed. A pipeline was run residential community it had been educational purposes. from a well field on the mainland at prior to the 1935 hurricane. With By the 1970s concerns began Florida City down the keys to Key development occurring on Big Pine to be raised about the structural West, and work was commenced on Key and in the Marathon area it was integrity of the railroad bridges in the conversion of the remainder of neither necessary nor cost effective general and the Seven Mile Bridge the former railroad right-of-way to to provide homes for bridge tenders in particular. In 1979 construction a first-class highway. In September and maintenance personnel on the of a replacement was begun. The 1942 fresh water began to flow via island. For more than a decade the new bridge traverses the waterway the pipeline to Key West. With the facilities served as headquarters from Knights Key to Little Duck pipeline completed and work on the for the Overseas Toll Road Key without touching any islands highway in progress, the Coast Guard District and evolved into a private passing 250 feet south of Pigeon was assigned the responsibility resort for its commissioners and Key. It features a high arch over of protecting these vital supply senior administrators. In 1953 toll Moser Channel that eliminates the lines. One of the segments most collections amounted to $1 million need for a drawbridge. vulnerable to sabotage was the causing an investigative reporter Tragically, fifteen months Knights Key Bridge. During 1943 to question why tolls were still before the new bridge was the Coast Guard took over Pigeon being collected since revenues over completed an accident occurred Key for quartering men assigned to fifteen years had been enough to that permanently closed the Moser protect the bridge. In May 1944 the repay the bonds several times over. Channel drawbridge. The arm new highway was completed and An audit of the Overseas Bridge and of a back hoe being towed on a designated part of federal highway Toll District uncovered kickbacks U.S. 1. and extensive inappropriate use of (Contined on page 14)

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 13 drawbridge were removed. Access to Pigeon Key was maintained by leaving intact the portion of the bridge to Knights Key. In 1988 the terminated its lease of Pigeon Key. Two years later the island was designated a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1993 it was leased for 30 years to the Pigeon Key Foundation so that it could be managed as an historic preserve. The Foundation operates a museum and gift shop on the island and makes the facilities available for seminars and other activities. While most of the remaining old buildings have had additions or modifications made that have changed their exterior appearance to varying degrees, the house in which the Chesser family resided near the dock on the north side of the island is an exception. It is currently used by the Foundation as a guest house for major benefactors. The future of Pigeon Key as a historic preserve is uncertain. Vulnerable to hurricanes, one storm could destroy the entire complex. The costs of maintaining the buildings and grounds continue to rise. The two-mile, steel bridge that passes over the island and connects it to Knights Key has deteriorated to

EDUCATION PROGRAM SPONSORS $100 OR MORE

JIM BROOKS TOM & KITTY CLEMENTS BETTY L. DESBIENS BUD DRETTMANN (Pigeon Key from page 13) JOHN & BEATRICE DUKE tender was incinerated at his post. SHIRLEY FREEMAN & HARVEY SERVER The inoperable drawbridge was left CELESTE ERICKSON trailer was six inches too high and DR. ELIAS GERTH in its closed position and maritime MARY HAFFENREFFER sliced through the upper members TOM & LYNDA HAMBRIGHT traffic rerouted until the new bridge CLYDE W. HENSLEY of the drawbridge ripping open a JOHN H. JONES could be completed. LAURA LYNNE KENNEDY propane tank mounted next to the EDWARD B. KNIGHT On May 24, 1982 the new Seven TOM KNOWLES bridge tender’s cab at the top of the JOHN & KAY PLIMPTON Mile Bridge was opened and the old DR. WILLIAM R. PLOSS structure. The propane exploded LARRY & GRETCHEN RACHLIN bridge was closed. Segments of the JUDITH & JAMES ROBERTS and ignited a nearby gasoline tank SOUTHERNMOST HOTEL IN THE USA Pacet Channel Viaduct and Moser ED SWIFT that fueled the engine used to rotate JAN & TY SYMROSKI Channel Bridge including the the bridge. The 39-year-old bridge

14 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - WINTER 2010/11 the point that it has been closed to Vol. VII, No. 6, (June, 1896): pp. vehicles and may soon be closed 203-207. to pedestrians. There are no funds Corliss, Carlton. “Building the BUSINESS MEMBERS ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY available to restore or replace the Overseas Railway to Key West,” GENEALOGY CENTER 900 LIBRARY PLAZA bridge. A small boat that operates Tequesta, No. 13, (1953): pp. 3-21. FORT WAYNE, IN 46802 260-421-1223 as a ferry from the visitors center Gallagher, Dan. Florida’s Great AMBROSIA TROPICAL LODGING 618 FLEMING STREET on Knights Key to the island has Ocean Railway; Building the Key KEY WEST, FL 33040 305-294-5181 become the most convenient way West Extension. Sarasota, FL.; CAPE AIR KEY WEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT for many people to get to the island. Pineapple Press Inc., 2003. KEY WEST 33040 800-352-0714

Thanks to the efforts of the Pigeon Chandler, David Leon. Henry CHESAPEAKE APPLIED TECHNOLOGY Key Foundation the island is still 623 SIMONTON STREET Flagler: The Astonishing Life and KEY WEST, FL 33040 888-873-3381 available to the general public Times of the Visionary COASTAL SAILING ADVENTURE, INC. and serves as a unique venue for Robber Baron Who Founded 28555 JOLLY ROGER DRIVE , FL 33042-0839 295-8844 presenting the rich history of the Florida. : Macmillan, CONCH TOUR TRAINS, INC. area. 1986. 601 DUVAL ST. KEY WEST, FL 33040 294-4142 The Florida East Coast Railway Hancock, Edith Chesser. A FRIENDS OF ISLAMORADA AREA STATE PARKS crossing over the Knights Key former resident of Pigeon Key. P.O. BOX 236 Channel and the Pigeon Key and Several interviews in 2009 at ISLAMORADA, FL 33036 DR. ELIAS GERTH Money Key Lakes was one the Tallahassee, Florida by Thomas Neil 3412 DUCK AVENUE great engineering and construction Knowles. KEY WEST, FL 33040 305-295-6790 HISTORIC FLORIDA KEYS FOUNDATION feats of the 20th Century. The steel Hines, Esther. A former resident 510 GREENE STREET structures that remain are rapidly of Pigeon Key. Interviewed July 22, KEY WEST, FL 33040 HISTORICAL PRESERVATION rusting away. Eventually all that 2005 at Palatka, FL by Marshall L. SOCIETY OF THE UPPER KEYS, INC. P.O. BOX 2200 will be left is a line of over 350 Brewton, Jr. , FL 33037 massive concrete piers precisely Historic American Engineering KEY WEST ENGINE SERVICE, INC. P.O. BOX 2521 spaced over five miles ending in Record. “The Seven Mile Bridge.” KEY WEST, FL 33045 two miles of graceful concrete HAER FL-2. , KEY WEST WOOD WORKS 6810 FRONT STREET arches: an impressive monument Dept. of Interior, KEY WEST, FL 33040 296-1811 to a monumental work. http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ THE LANGLEY PRESS, INC. habshaer/fl/fl0200/fl0293/data/ 821 GEORGIA STREET KEY WEST, FL 33040 294-3156 Acknowledgements fl0293.pdf MEL FISHER MARITIME HERITAGE SOCIETY Special thanks to the Edith Hopkins, Alice. “Development 200 GREENE ST. KEY WEST, FL 33040 294-2633 Chesser Hancock for her of the Overseas Highway,” Tequesta, MILE ZERO PUBLISHING recollections of her family’s life No. 46, 1986: pp. 48-58. 5950 PENINSULAR DR. #629 on Pigeon Key. Marshall L. Pyfrom, Priscilla Coe. The KEY WEST, FL 33040 USS MOHAWK MEMORIAL MUSEUM Brewton, Jr. provided materials as Bridges Stand Tall. Pigeon Key P.O. BOX 186 well as excerpts from his interview Foundation, 1998. KEY WEST, FL 33041 OLD TOWN TROLLEY with Esther Hines Diver. Janet Wilkinson, Jerry. “History 6631 MALONEY AVENUE Hayes supplied information about of Knight’s Key Dock.” http: KEY WEST, FL 33040 296-6688 PIGEON KEY FOUNDATION the school arrangement with the //www.keyshistory.org/KKD- P.O. BOX 500130 Monroe County School Board. Knights-Key-Dock.html MARATHON, FL 33050 A.R. SAVAGE & SONS, INC. Tom Hambright of the Monroe 701 HARBOUR POST DRIVE County Public Library Florida Thomas Neil Knowles is a fourth- TAMPA, FL 33602 813-247-4550 SEASTORY PRESS History Department and Jim Gale, generation native of Key West and 305 WHITEHEAD STREET #1 KEY WEST, FL 33040 296-5762 GIS technician of the Monroe a retired university administrator [email protected]

County Property Appraisers Office, who enjoys researching and writing SOUTHERNMOST HOTEL IN THE USA about the history of the Florida 1319 DUVAL STREET also provided assistance. KEY WEST, FL 33040 296-6577 Keys. He is the author of Category ST. LOUIS AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER CO. References 5: The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane 3928 CLAYTON AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63110 314-533-7710 Browne, Jefferson B. “Across (University Press of Florida --2009). the Gulf by Rail to Key West,” He can be contacted by email at National Geographic Magazine, [email protected].

WINTER 2010/11 - FLORIDA KEYS SEA HERITAGE JOURNAL - 15 As can be seen in this aerial photograph of Pigeon Key taken in 2006, the shape of the south end of the island was changed to accommodate a saltwater swimming pool in the 1950s for the exclusive use of the commissioners and senior administrators of the Overseas Toll Road District. Governor Charley Johns disbanded the District and lifted tolls on the highway after an audit revealed misuse of funds. While leased by the University of Miami for marine research, an opening was cut in the seaward wall and the pool was used as a marina for small craft. Photo credit:Monroe County Property Appraisal Office. Key West Maritime Historical Society NONPROFIT ORG. P.O. Box 695 U.S. POSTAGE Key West, FL 33041 PAID KEY WEST, FL PERMIT NO. 30

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