The main room of the Islamorada library measures 45 feet by 45 feet, and that includes walls of reinforced concrete 12 inches thick. Behind the building, two cisterns once held fresh water that pumps carried to a kitchen and restrooms at the front. The building sits at 81830 Overseas Highway on Upper Matecumbe Key. The Monroe County Public Library opened its Islamorada branch there on Nov. 6, 1966, and is marking 60 years this month with free Tuesday evening talks.
The building is nearly three decades older than the library, and it shares its origin with the stone obelisk across the highway. The library and the Florida Keys Memorial came out of the same land deal after the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. When federal officials had to choose which to build first, they chose the shelter.
One land trade, two structures
Before the storm, the Matecumbe school stood on the Atlantic beach, on the land where Cheeca Lodge stands today. The hurricane destroyed it. Local historian Jerry Wilkinson's account at Keys History traces what came next. Hugh Matheson owned bayside land along the highway. He gave that land up for the school and took in exchange the oceanfront parcel where the old school had stood, so the new school would rise on Matheson's former highway frontage.
That new site had more land than a school needed. Wilkinson's history of the memorial explains that a small triangle east of the old railroad right-of-way was set aside for the monument. In exchange, the school got an access road. The land never changed hands, and the Monroe County School Board still owns the memorial.
The two projects ended up competing for the same federal attention. A Washington letter dated Dec. 15, 1936, said the two Keys storm shelters had priority over other Works Progress Administration work in the district. On Upper Matecumbe, that meant the school came ahead of the memorial. The numbers show how big the job was. A September 1936 WPA form put the combined cost of the two Upper Keys refuge schools at $48,245. The memorial's finished cost was around $12,000.
In the end, the memorial was finished first. It was dedicated on Nov. 14, 1937, with about 5,000 people watching. The school opened to students in September 1938. The order of construction followed the order of need. The school building was meant to hold the living through the next storm. The monument holds the cremated remains of an estimated 190 victims of the last one.
What the building has been asked to do
The 1936 plan behind these "community houses" called for buildings large enough to shelter everyone in the area each one served. They would work as schools, churches and civic halls most of the year and as refuges in hurricane season. The Islamorada building has filled every one of those roles.
| Year | Role |
|---|---|
| 1938 | Opens in September as the Matecumbe Grammar School |
| 1951 | School closes after the new Coral Shores School opens on Plantation Key |
| 1952 | San Pedro Catholic Church begins meeting in the old school |
| 1954 | First Baptist Church of Islamorada begins meeting there |
| 1960 | Residents shelter inside during Hurricane Donna |
| 1966 | Opens Nov. 6 as the Islamorada branch library |
| 1983 | First addition; branch rededicated to longtime volunteer Helen Wadley |
| 1999 | Second addition, including a Community Room |
| 2025 | Full interior refresh, reopening to regular hours Oct. 27 |
| 2026 | 60 years as a library |
The Community Room added in 1999 hosts library programs, art exhibits and the Monroe County Elections Office during voting. The 2025 refresh brought new carpet, furniture, shelving, paint and lighting. Its scope looks small next to what the building has already lived through. Kimberly Matthews, Monroe County's director of libraries, told Keys Weekly that "this historic structure has been sheltering and serving the Islamorada community since it was built almost 100 years ago."
The twin in Tavernier
The library had a near-identical sister. The WPA built the second refuge school on Key Largo, at 148 Georgia Avenue, to serve Tavernier. Tavernier work actually started first, because the deed for the Matecumbe site held up the Islamorada job. In Wilkinson's account, the Tavernier building went on to serve as the Florida Keys Clinic and then as the Monroe County Health Department after its school years ended.
Both schools closed in 1951, when Coral Shores consolidated Upper Keys students. The school board then leased both properties to Monroe County for 99 years. Wilkinson described the Tavernier building and the Florida Keys Memorial as the only remaining WPA structures he knew of in the Upper Keys. He was writing about Tavernier, but the Islamorada building is the same kind of structure. Unlike its twin, it has stayed a public room open to anyone who walks in.
The two talks still ahead
The Diamond Jubilee series began Nov. 3 with Corey Malcom, lead historian of the library's Florida Keys History Center, on the history of the county library system and the Islamorada branch. On Nov. 10, the Florida Park Service presented on Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park. Two Tuesdays remain:
- Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m.: "Bloodline" filming locations. Rita Troxel, former Monroe County film commissioner, and Maria Chavez, the show's location manager, will discuss the 2015–17 Netflix series that was set and filmed in Islamorada.
- Tuesday, Nov. 24, 6:30 p.m.: "Big pink birds." Jerry Lorenz, former research director of Audubon Florida, will talk about the history of wildlife conservation in the area and about roseate spoonbills and flamingos.
Both talks are free and open to the public, and you don't need a library card. The library's small parking lot fills up quickly.
Why both topics lead back across the highway
The "Bloodline" talk comes back to this same stretch of road. Visit Florida Keys lists the Hurricane Monument among the show's filming locations. The same list includes the Moorings Village & Spa as the Rayburn family home, Anne's Beach, Pierre's Restaurant and Coral Bay Marina. In 2015, Film Florida reported that episodes also featured the Whistle Stop Bar, the Safari Lounge, Morada Bay, Mangrove Mike's Cafe and the Ocean View Inn and Pub. Several locals worked as extras. The writers built a story about an old Keys family's past, and the monument to the 1935 storm ended up on screen.
The Nov. 24 speaker has firsthand knowledge of the season's most-talked-about bird news. In February 2024, an Audubon Florida census counted 101 wild American flamingos across the state. The largest group, more than 50 birds, was in Florida Bay, many of them blown in by Hurricane Idalia in 2023. In Audubon's report on that count, Lorenz said, "I actually suspect that 100 flamingos is the floor of this new population." In July 2025, WLRN reported that avian ecologist Mark Cook had come across 125 flamingos along the Florida Bay coastline. WLRN called it the largest flock seen in South Florida since a group of 147 in 2014.
Lorenz's other subject is the roseate spoonbill. Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists the roseate spoonbill as state-designated Threatened. Audubon's Fall 2024 State of the Everglades report says changes in salinity and water depth are pushing spoonbills to nest outside their historic range in Florida Bay. Saltier, deeper water makes it harder for them to feed their chicks.
Across the highway from the library door, the memorial's crypt cover carries a 22-foot ceramic tile map of the Keys, from Key Largo to Marathon.
For more on how Islamorada's waterfront institutions are changing, see our recent look at what's happening along Islamorada's waterfront this year. For the wider picture of the village, visit our Islamorada neighborhood guide.
Many homes on Upper Matecumbe come with their own history, and a building's story can shape how it is valued. If you own property near the library and want to know what yours is worth today, Lisa Swanson can prepare a discreet, personal assessment. Start with an instant home valuation.
