This southernmost city of the continental United States, on the final inhabited island in the string of Florida Keys, is enjoying its busiest days since 1890, when it was the largest city in Florida. Key West is noted for its 19th-century gingerbread houses, first introduced to the island by Bahamian settlers. It is also a city of Cuban foods and dialects that have been assimilated into the culture since the time of the big cigar industry, almost a century ago.

Perhaps Ponce de Leon was the first to spot the island, but Florida Indians often made their way here to trade or battle. The original name was "Cayo Hueso," Spanish for Bone Island. English, Bahamians, Cubans, New Englanders, and Southerners came here to settle and prospered from salvaging wrecked ships, cigarmaking, sponge gathering, turtling, shrimping, and fishing.

Following its early burst of prosperity, the city went bankrupt in the 1930s; an ambitious rehabilitation program was ended by the hurricane that wiped out the Overseas Railroad. However, completion of the Overseas Highway in 1938, along the existing route of the defunct railroad, signaled the start of Key West's present-day affluence. Today, tourism, followed by shrimping and fishing, sustain the economy.