KEY WEST LOU / NO REASON TO CONSIDER CHANGING MALLORY SQUARE’S NAME…..NOT NAMED AFTER STEPHEN MALLORY

KEY WEST LOU / NO REASON TO CONSIDER CHANGING MALLORY SQUARE’S NAME…..NOT NAMED AFTER STEPHEN MALLORY

Serious discussions concerning renovating/updating Mallory Square are taking place. The issue of the area’s name has become part of the discussions. Should the name be changed. Stephen Mallory was a Confederate successionist who served as the Confederacy’s Secretary of the Navy.

My son in law Corey Malcom solved the problem.

Corey is a brilliant historian. Tom Hambright described him as a “world class historian.” The description befits him.

Corey is an archeologist by education. Early on worked in the Middle East. Served as the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum’s Director of Archeology for more than 30 years. Now Hambright’s successor as Monroe County Historian.

He is acknowledged and respected as the world authority re Spanish wrecks and slave ships. Along the way, he earned a Doctorate from England’s University of Huddersfield.

I dwell initially on Corey’s background and talents not because he is my son in law. Though I take pride in it. I dwell on his background because what he has discovered will surprise everyone: Mallory Square is NOT named after the secessionist Stephen Mallory.

Corey did some digging and discovered a 1961 letter from the Chairman of the Old Island Restoration Foundation, one of Key West’s first historic preservation groups.

Key West purchased the “Clyde-Mallory Docks” in 1952, but a plan for the area was not realized till 1960 when the Foundation began pushing for a restoration that highlighted the history of the docks. The Foundation took the lead in the transformation to “Mallory Square” which opened in 1961.

The Foundation’s Chairman Reta Savage wrote, “We have by unanimous decision named the area ‘Old Mallory Square’ in honor of the Clyde-Mallory Steamship Line.”

Corey reported Sawyer went on to make a prescient observation: “Needless to say when the dock and fishing pier are finished it will certainly be an attraction to the tourists.”

Good job, Corey! You saved Key West from some serious conflict re a name change.

Corey’s report can be read on a Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center, Facebook entry posted 12/19 titled “Who Is The Mallory Of Mallory Square? The Answer Is In The Archive.”

It is already Christmas in Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. Less than 24 hours from now, it will be in Key West. An early Merry Christmas to one and all!

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