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Remembering the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane |
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What happened in the Keys on Labor Day, September 2, 1935 will forever be seared onto the community’s collective memory. That evening a Category 5 hurricane packing 200mph winds barreled through Matecumbe Key leaving little behind.
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According to records, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 “cleared every tree and every building off Matecumbe Key and destroyed the Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad” – the Keys’ only connection to the mainland.
Lack of radar technology, slow modes of communication, bridges under construction and a slow transportation system made a bad situation much worse. The official death toll was 423: 164 civilians and 259 World War I veterans hired by the federal Works Progress Administration to construct U.S. Highway 1 across the Keys.
The National Hurricane Center says that the 1935 Labor Day storm was the strongest to hit the United States in the 20th century and was the first of two Category 5 hurricanes to hit the United States since record-keeping began.
After the storm, Ernest Hemingway traveled to the scene by boat from his home in Key West and wrote about what he saw in an article titled "Who Killed the Vets" for New Masses magazine and in a letter to his editor, Max Perkins.
"We located 69 bodies where no one had been able to get in. Indian Key was absolutely swept clean, not a blade of grass," he wrote to Perkins. "We made five trips with provisions for survivors to different places but nothing but dead men to eat the grub."
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South Florida Red Cross Facebook Album
NEW Keys residents marks the 75th Anniversary of the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane
Historical Photos: Red Cross First Aid station at the Tavernier Hotel.
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Many of the victims drowned, some swept into the Gulf of Mexico, others sucked back into the Atlantic after the 15-foot wave passed.
Hours after the unnamed storm blew to the Gulf of Mexico, some survivors assessed the damage while others gathered the dead. Most went to the Rustic Inn where the Red Cross was waiting for them with arms wide open. It was at this place that survivors learned the fate of their loved ones while Red Cross provided solace and assistance. First aid was provided at the Tavernier Hotel.
Months later, the American Red Cross, Work Projects Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration (now FEMA) and the Veteran’s Administration, joined forces to construct specially-designed hurricane-proof homes.
During the construction of these Red Cross homes, the women and children were relocated and provided for by the Red Cross. They returned to the Keys once their home was completed.
These Red Cross homes have 18" thick walls and were built with concrete and iron bars.
The roofs were also made of concrete. The ground floor was 12 feet above ground and the downstairs had built-in cisterns designed to hold a year's worth of water.
Twenty-nine Red Cross homes were built two years after the storm. Several of them still exist today and are used as residences. Visible along U.S. Highway 1, the homes serve as a reminder of the Keys history and the Red Cross mission: to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
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