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History and
Background
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Irving Eyster
Irving R. Eyster: Keys historian/archaeologist.
Henry M. Flagler determined that the Florida East Coast Railway would build the Key West Extension from Miami to the island city (see article on The Overseas Railway). By 1904, the track was completed to Homestead, then went rapidly through the upper Keys. Progress was slower at Long Key, but the railway reached Marathon in early 1908. The Florida East Coast Railway built a terminal at the end of a 2,860 foot dock that extended into the ocean to the west of Knight’s Key. This enabled the P&O Steamship line to commence service in February, 1908. At this time Pigeon Key was selected by Resident Engineer C.S. Coe as a good site to build a work camp for the bridge builders. He directed the construction of a small community on the 5-acre island, with a dock, warehouse, materials yard, kitchen and dining hall, four dormitories, a construction headquarters, and a tent city to house the great number of workers on the island. At times there were as many as 400 men living at the camp. Each dormitory building had a reading room with lights supplied by a generator, and comfortable mattresses on double bunk beds, with plenty of clean bed clothes. All laundry was done by the company. The engineering and office staff were housed in a combination office and sleeping quarters. Additional laborers were housed in the tents. These tents were built on wooden frameworks and numbered as houses in a city. Many of the workers were from New York, and were termed "Bos," a shortened form of the word "hobo." The spaces between the rows of tents were given street names from New York, such as Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street. Food was wholesome, with menus of beefsteak, beef roast and Mulligan stew. Ham, bacon and fish were served with beans, peas, sweet and Irish potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes and apples. Cleanliness was enforced on Pigeon Key...all debris was thrown into the sea where it was washed away. Outhouses on docks served as latrines. On the island, walks were laid out edged with short walls of coral rock and conch shells. Several flower gardens were maintained on the island. After the railway was completed in 1912, Pigeon Key became the headquarters for the work crews who maintained the Seven-Mile Bridge and the bridge tenders who operated the draw span over Moser Channel. Most of the temporary construction buildings were dismantled, and a new generation of buildings were erected to house the maintenance people and their families. The island became a small village with a store, post office, school house, shop, dock, storage buildings, homes for the foremen of the section crew and the paint gang foreman, and also houses for the bridge tender and assistant bridge tender. There was separate housing for Negro workers. The painting crew had an enormous job, working almost all year on the Seven-Mile Bridge and also the Bahia Honda Bridge. These were the only bridges in the world where the tracks, plates, girders and even the spikes were painted — a necessary protective measure against corrosion from the salt air of the Keys. The crews would start at the Marathon end of the bridge, paint to the western end, then move on to the Bahia Honda Bridge. By this time they finished at Bahia Honda, the east end of the Seven-Mile Bridge would need painting again. Pigeon Key was the only village on the Keys at this time without a cistern. Fresh water was delivered from the mainland by train. Water cars with 3,500 gallon wooden tanks stopped above the island on the Seven-Mile Bridge and transferred the water to similar tanks on the ground below the tracks. The island had a typical one-room school house for the children who lived there. The teachers came from Key West and boarded on the island. The school had 12 grades; sometimes there was only one student in each class. The bell on the roof of the schoolhouse came from a train engine. Photos show that there was a sand pile beside the school, a pole with an American flag, and a "Quiet-School Zone" sign next to the building. The children of the island had a playhouse under the tracks, and a swing hung from the trestle above for their enjoyment. Most of the children left in the summer to visit relatives. Pigeon Key was described as "a child’s paradise" by Esther Hines Diver, who lived on the island from the time she was 5 until age 17. She tells that water was piped into the houses, but there were no bathrooms; restrooms and showers were over the water by the school. At the time there was only one telephone on the island, used by all the residents for business and emergencies. The cook for the workers was a large black man named Henry, well over six feet tall. He was respected by all the workers because of his size and because he was a good cook. No alcohol was permitted on Pigeon Key; if an occasional bottle was smuggled in, Henry confiscated it and destroyed the booze. Black and white residents had separate houses and buildings, and no women or children were allowed in the Negro quarters. Pigeon Key functioned as a F.E.C. Ry. maintenance center until the 1935 Labor Day hurricane destroyed the track and fill in the lower Matecumbe area. Pigeon Key suffered little damage, but there are stories that the residents used mattresses and furniture to block the windows and doors. As a result of the hurricane, the F.E.C. Ry. sold the bridges and right-of-way from Florida City to Key West to the state for $640,000. A new era began on Pigeon Key as the train bridges were converted into roads for the Overseas Highway. This took three years to complete. On March 29, 1938, Key West Mayor William Albury led a motorcade to Pigeon Key to meet other dignitaries for the opening of the bridge. The daughter of the Cuban Council, Senorita Ida Rodrigues, cut the ribbon while newsreel cameramen and reporters took pictures. Pigeon Key was now on the route to Key West, but automobiles could not drive onto the island until the end of 1938, when the wooden ramp was constructed. Pigeon Key now became the headquarters for the Road and Toll Bridge District. The bridge still required painting, and the Moser Channel span still needed bridge tenders. In many ways life went on as before; the island still served as a support center for the Seven-Mile Bridge. Pigeon Key had a fishing camp on it with a restaurant and bar in 1939 through early 1941. During WW I and WW II, the bridges were guarded by the military. In 1949, Brooks Bateman became manager of the Road and Toll District; he and his family lived on Pigeon Key. In 1953, due to the insistence of Representative Bernie Papy, Monroe County residents could travel over U.S. 1 for free. In 1954, the road became toll-free for everyone, and the Road and Toll Bridge District was dissolved. In the 1960s, the island became a marine biology center for the University of Miami, and remained so until 1987. At this time Monroe County, the owner of Pigeon Key, began seeking a new role for the island. The Pigeon Key Foundation was formed in 1993 in order to restore the historic buildings, open the island to the public, provide educational programs for youth and adults, and become a site for marine research with Mote Marine Laboratory. |
