Wisteria Island
Wisteria Island, also known as Christmas Tree Island, is a federally owned, uninhabited island in the lower Florida Keys 645 yards (590 m) northwest of the northwestern corner of the main island and city of Key West, Florida, Monroe County, United States. It is located 280 yards (260 m) north-northeast of Sunset Key (Tank Island), its closest neighbor.
Wisteria Island has an area of 0.04 mi² (0.1 km²) (exactly 106346 m²). The nickname Christmas Tree Island comes from the large number of Australian pine (casuarina) trees that grow there. Large numbers of liveaboard boats are moored near the island.
Wisteria Island was created in the late 1890s and early 1900s as the result of U.S. Navy dredging of Key West harbor. During the 19th century, sediment from repeated dredging projects was deposited a few hundred yards off the northwestern corner of Key West, creating Tank Island (Sunset Key). Over the years, additional dredging projects created larger piles of sediment, eventually creating Wisteria Island. In 1925, the U.S. Public Health Service disinfecting steamer Wisteria, formerly a United States Lighthouse Service (one of the predecessors of the U.S. Coast Guard) light tender sank where she was moored on the island and then burned to her waterline. The wreck was eventually salvaged, but the formerly unnamed spit of land kept the name of the ship as a reminder.
In the 1930s, the island was purchased from Monroe County by then-state representative Bernie Papy for $3,000. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the island was the site of a "shark camp" owned by city building inspector Ray Knopp, which eventually grew into a commercial shark processing plant owned by Thompson Enterprises. The plant harvested sharks for their skins, turning them into clothing for sale to markets as far away as China.
In 1956, Papy sold the island to Wisteria Corp., a group formed with the intent of developing the island into commercial space and real estate. Wisteria Corp. was renamed to Wisteria Island, Inc. when it sold the island in 1967 to F.E.B. Corporation of Key West. Benjamin Bernstein, a prominent local real estate developer, was the principal behind the project and intended to develop the island into residential space. It totaled 21.5 acres (87,000 m2) at the time of the sale. F.E.B. subsequently negotiated the purchase of 150 acres (0.61 km2) of bay bottom surrounding the island from Monroe County, a transaction that took place the same year.
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