Item N19
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ADD-ON
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: 10/20/04 - KW
Division: Commissioner McCoy
Bulk Item: Yes X No
Department: BOCC-3
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
A Resolution approving the naming of the Courthouse Annex at 502 Whitehead Street,
Key West, Florida" The Judge Jefferson B. Browne Courtroom Complex".
ITEM BACKGROUND:
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
TOTAL COST:
BUDGETED: Yes
No
COST TO COUNTY:
"'
REVENUE PRODUCING: yes No AMOUNT PER MONTH. YEAR
- - . - -
APPROVED BY: County Attorney _ OMB/PurchasingL- Risk Management_
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:' fj
DOCUMENTATION: Included:
Commissio,er Ch
\~
To Follow: _ Not & quired:
Sonny" McCoy
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM# /'vI - 19-
Revised 2/27/0 I
U~~-!~-~~ !~,~~ r~UM'MUN~U~ COUNTY ATTY OFFICE ID,3052823518
PAGE
1/2
COmmissioner McCoy
RESOLUDON NO.
JH"~~'"
A RESOLUnON OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF
MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA NAMING THE COURTHOUSE ANNEX AT
502 WHITEHEAD STREET, KEY WEST, FLORIDA, THE JUDGE
JEFFERSON B. BROWNE COURTROOM COMPLEX.
WHEREAS, Jefferson Beale Browne was born to Joseph and Mary Browne of Key West
on June 4, 1857; and
WHEREAS, Jefferson attended school here on the "Rock" and at age 19 served as
assistant lighthouse keeper at Fowey Rocks Lighthouse at the eastern end of the Florida
Straits; and
and
WHEREAS, Jefferson spent the time in a solitary existence by studying law books;
WHEREAS, after 15 months he enrolled in the University of Iowa Law School and was
able to graduate in two years; and
WHEREAS, in 1881, he became the attorney for both the City of Key West and
Monroe County; and
WHEREAS, in 1886, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Postmaster of Key
West; and
WHEREAS, in 1890 he won election to the Florida Senate, where, in 1891, as a
freshman, he was elected President; and
WHEREAS, his only loss was his bid for Governor in 1892; and
WHEREAS, in 1893 he was re-elected to the Florida Senate; and
WHEREAS, in 1904 he was elected Chairman of Florida's Railroad Commission; and
WHEREAS, in 1912 he was made Chairman of Florida's Delegation of Electors for
Woodrow Wilson; and
WHEREAS, In 1916, he was elected to and served as Chief Justice of the Florida
Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, Judge Jefferson B. Browne resigned his seat in 1924 to return to the
Island he loved to assume the bench of the newly formed Twentieth JudiCial Circuit in
Monroe COunty; and
WHEREAS, when the Eleventh Judicial Circuit was combined in 1935, he served both
Key West and Miami; and
U~I-l~-~4 15.24 FROM.MONROE COUNTY ATTY OFFICE 10.3052823516
PAGE 2/2
WHEREAS, Jefferson was actually sitting on the bench in Miami when he suffered a
heart attack, and was returned to Key west, his birthplace, where he succumbed three
weeks later on May 4, 1937; and
WHEREAS, local school students have been introduced to some of Jefferson's
writings; and
WHEREAS, his love of this Island was amply expressed when he wrote:
"Come weal, come woe; come progress, come decay; come nature with her beauty,
come man with his mistakes; Nothing can mar the sky, the wat~ the sunrise and
the sunset, which make the unchanging and unchangeable Key West!"
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUN1Y COMMISSIONERS
OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
Section 1. That the Courthouse Annex at 502 Whitehead Street shall be named the
Judge Jefferson B. Browne Courtroom Complex.
S~~n 2L That there be commissioned a bust of Judge Jefferson B. Browne and
placed on the grounds of the building named after him.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting of said Board held on the 20th day of October, 2004.
Mayor Nelson
Mayor Pro Tern Rice
Commissioner McCoy
Commissioner Neugent
Commissioner Spehar
(SEAL)
Attest: DANNY L.KOLHAGE, Clerk
60ARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
By
By
Mayor/Chairperson
Deputy Clerk
jres.JBB