A Storm Begins Its March Toward Tragedy

August 31, 1935 — A tropical depression forms near the Bahamas and begins rapidly intensifying toward the Florida Keys

On August 31, 1935, a definite tropical depression formed near Long Island in the southeastern Bahamas. Initially small and difficult to track with the limited forecasting tools of the era, the system rapidly intensified as it moved westward toward Florida. Two days later, it became the catastrophic Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

The hurricane crossed the Middle Florida Keys on the evening of September 2 with estimated sustained winds of approximately 185 miles per hour. A barometric pressure of 892 millibars was recorded during the passage of the eye—still the lowest pressure measured in a hurricane making landfall in the continental United States. The compact Category 5 storm produced a tremendous surge that swept across Upper Matecumbe and nearby Keys, destroying buildings, rail lines, boats, roads, and entire communities.

The Veterans in the Keys

Among those caught in the storm were hundreds of World War I veterans employed through federal relief programs. The veterans were living in work camps while helping construct bridges and roadway improvements for the Overseas Highway. For men who had served their country and then struggled through the Great Depression, the work offered wages, shelter, and a path back toward stability.

An evacuation train was dispatched from Miami, but mechanical problems, holiday staffing difficulties, debris, and worsening weather delayed its arrival. The train reached Islamorada as the storm surge struck and swept most of its cars from the tracks. The people aboard the train survived, but the evacuation had come too late to save many of those in the veterans' camps and surrounding communities.

More than 400 people died, although historical estimates vary. Approximately 260 of the victims were veterans working in the federal camps. Many bodies were never recovered, and the destruction of telephone, telegraph, railroad, and roadway connections initially left survivors isolated from the outside world.

The End of the Overseas Railway

The hurricane also brought an end to regular operations on Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway extension to Key West. Large portions of the Overseas Railway were washed away, and the railroad was never rebuilt. The State of Florida later acquired much of the surviving right-of-way, bridges, and infrastructure for use in completing the modern Overseas Highway.

The disaster therefore changed more than the landscape. It ended one era of transportation through the Keys and helped shape the highway route that travelers still follow today. It also exposed the serious limitations of hurricane observation, communication, forecasting, and emergency evacuation during the 1930s.

A Memorial in Islamorada

In 1937, the Florida Keys Memorial—often called the Hurricane Monument—was dedicated in Islamorada to the civilians and veterans who lost their lives. The memorial includes a crypt containing victims' remains and stands as one of Florida's most powerful reminders of the danger faced by early Keys residents and the human cost of this largely forgotten tragedy.

Sources for Additional Reading

• NOAA: 80th Anniversary of the Labor Day Hurricane and First Hurricane Reconnaissance.
• NOAA: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.
• Library of Congress: Rescue Train Swept off the Tracks by the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane.
• National Park Service: Florida Keys Memorial National Register Documentation.