Key West just happens to be the southernmost city in the continental United States. Key West is actually a city built on the westernmost island in the chain of islands called the Florida Keys. "Keys" in this case refers to the small islands off the southern tip of Florida. Such a location has brought both good luck and bad throughout the centuries.
The famous explorer Ponce de Leon first stumbled upon the keys in 1513 while on his quest to find the Fountain of Youth. For the next century or so, only pirates would frequent the area until, finally, the new United States Navy flushed them all out in the early 1800s. Of course, thanks to all of that pirate activity, there are still rumors of buried treasure all around the keys.
The Rich Key West History
Once the pirates were out of the way, early European settlers moved in and started farming everything from key limes to tamarind and pineapples. In fact, pineapples grown on Key West met the eastern seaboard's needs for the fruit for quite a while. In 1846, on the island of Dry Tortugas, construction began on the mammoth Fort Jefferson.
However, before its construction could be finished, it was halted. The invention of the rifled cannon made the fortress, with its traditional cannons, obsolete. The unfinished fort still stands today and is a tourist attraction for visiting history buffs.
More about Dry Tortugas and Marine Life
The island Fort Jefferson was built upon was called "Dry Tortugas," named after the many turtles in the area. "Tortugas" is Spanish for "turtles." Settlers referred to the area as "dry" because there was no fresh water for drinking. To this day, the salt water around Key West is home to hundreds of species of fish and other marine life.
Turtles, manta rays, and even dolphins call the area home, making it a popular place for tourists--of course, tourists didn't really start to arrive until after World War II. Before then, a good deal of bad luck befell Key West. The famous (or infamous) railroad man, Henry Flagler, tried to construct and maintain his famous "railroad to the sea." It was somewhat successful until a terrible hurricane destroyed the tracks. After that, the Great Depression all but destroyed the local economy.
Key West, After the Depression
Finally, with the help of federal aid, Key West did its best to recover. After all, it still had a lot to offer--beautiful nature and year-round wonderful weather are two of the area's more obvious selling points. However, it wouldn't be until 1949 (after the US Navy turned Key West into a naval base) that a strong economic upswing began to take hold again. With the advent of the harvesting of "pink gold" (also known as shrimp), the fortune of Key West changed for the better.
Today's Key West can't quite escape its own history--not that anyone would want it to. The city has been the home to many historical events and people, including Ernest Hemingway, who was an historical event in and of himself. These days, Key West sees more than three million tourists every year, which proves that even the bad luck the island has experienced in the past has come to an end.
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