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Key West by Florida Travelr
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Key West |
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Travel & Tourism
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Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1(the Overseas Highway) (east), Sigsbee Park (north, originally known asDredgers Key), Fleming Key (north), and Sunset Key (west, originally known asTank Island). Both Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park are part of Naval Air Station Key West and are inaccessible by civilians. Key West is the county seat of Monroe County. Key West is the southernmost city in the Continental United States. It is also the southern terminus of U.S. 1, State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935, the Florida East Coast Railway. Key West was relatively isolated until 1912, when it was connected to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway extension of Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). Flagler created a landfill at Trumbo Point for his railyards. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935destroyed much of the railroad and killed hundreds of residents, including around 400 World War I veterans who were living in camps and working on federal road and mosquito-control projects in the Middle Keys. The FEC could not afford to restore the railroad. The U.S. government then rebuilt the rail route as an automobile highway, completed in 1938, which became an extension of United States Highway 1. The portion of U.S. 1 through the Keys is called the Overseas Highway. Franklin Roosevelt toured the road in 1939. Key West was always an important military post, since it sits at the northern edge of the deepwater channel connecting the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico (the southern edge 90 miles (140 km) away is Cuba) via the Florida Straits. Because of this, Key West since the 1820s had been dubbed the "Gibraltar of the West." Fort Taylor was initially built on the island. The Navy added a small base from which the USS Mainesailed to its demise in Havana at the beginning of the Spanish-American War. The first cruise ship was the Sunward in 1969, which docked at the Navy's pier in theTruman Annex or the privately owned Pier B. The Navy's pier is called the Navy Mole. In 1984 the city opened a pier right on Mallory Square. The decision was met with considerable opposition from people who felt it would disrupt the tradition of watching the sunset at Mallory Square. Cruise ships now dock at all three piers. As of December, 2012 due to a narrow channel, larger cruise ships increasingly bypass Key West. A referendum will be held in Key West in the fall of 2013 regarding whether to request a feasibility study from the Army Corps of Engineers for a $36 million project to dredge a wider channel. Economic benefits from visiting cruise ship passengers are substantial but not attractive to all Key West citizens as the daily presence of thousands of tourists from cruise ships affects the character of the city resulting in operation of facilities that cater to mass tourism rather than to a potentially more profitable and pleasant upscale clientele. You can visit our Orlando to Miami bus page for more details about our services, offers and discounts. Also, you can always visit our webpage @ www.myFloridaShuttleBus.com.
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