Big Pine Key
| Big Pine Key | |
|---|---|
 County and state location
|
|
| Basic data | |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Florida |
| County : | Monroe County |
| Coordinates : | 24 ° 41 ′ N , 81 ° 22 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) |
| Residents : | 4,252 (as of 2010) |
| Population density : | 168.1 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 25.8 km 2 (approx. 10 mi 2 ) of which 25.3 km 2 (approx. 10 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 1 m |
| Postal code : | 33043 |
| Area code : | +1 305 |
| FIPS : | 12-06425 |
| GNIS ID : | 0294394 |
Big Pine Key is a census-designated place (CDP) in Monroe County in the US state of Florida with 4252 inhabitants (as of 2010).
geography
The CDP Big Pine Key is also an island that belongs to the Florida Keys . It is located on the Overseas Highway ( US 1 , SR 5 ) and is approximately 40 km from Key West and 200 km from Miami .
climate
The climate is mild and warm, with a slight steady wind. Statistically, it rains an average of 30% of the days in the summer months, even if only for a short time. The highest temperatures are in May to October, with up to 33 ° C. The coldest months from December to February with an average of only 12 ° C. Snowfall is almost unknown in the region.
history
The first signs of settlement on Big Pine Key can be found as early as 1845, when the US government gave part of this land to Florida for the construction of schools and settlement. One of the most important occupations at the time was the manufacture of charcoal . As the first charcoal burner, George Wilson was mentioned as early as 1870 in the first large census. The production of the charcoal was quite simple: the wood was bundled and piled up in a pyramid like a charcoal pile . After that, covered with seaweed , canvas, sand, and mortar to keep the heat out. Then a controlled fire was kindled in the center. The process took several days and always had to be observed to prevent the wood from burning.
Another occupation was rescuing castaways whose ships got lost in the Gulf of Mexico or were thrown ashore by a storm. Pirates sometimes intentionally set false light signals so that the ships ran aground. In 1915, John T. Knowles founded the first post office in Big Pines. In 1923 a small factory for the production of shark oil was added. It employed 25 men and had 6 fishing boats. They caught an average of 100 sharks a day, which were made into shark fin soup , shark liver, and shark leather. In 1931 the plant was closed again due to financial difficulties.
The highway, built in 1928, brought little increase in population. The distance to the next larger cities was simply too great. This did not change significantly with the construction of the railway in 1938. Another problem was training. Monroe County then required at least ten students to be present before a school could be approved. A report dated November 19, 1927 contains the following sentence: ... there are now six children from two families and another will probably be born in the spring . As a result of the report, the project to build a school was rejected for the first time. Permission to build the first school was granted on February 9, 1928.
Demographic data
According to the 2010 census, the 4252 inhabitants at that time were distributed over 2981 households. The population density was 168.1 inh / km². 94.7% of the population identified themselves as whites , 1.8% as African American , 0.4% as Indians and 0.8% as Asian Americans . 0.6% said they belonged to another ethnic group and 1.8% to several ethnic groups. 10.3% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos .
In 2010 children under 18 years of age and 27.6% of all households lived in 17.9% of all households with persons at least 65 years of age. 57.9% of households were family households (consisting of married couples with or without offspring or one parent with offspring). The average household size was 2.12 people and the average family size was 2.57 people.
14.7% of the population were younger than 20 years old, 19.8% were 20 to 39 years old, 38.6% were 40 to 59 years old, and 26.9% were at least 60 years old. The mean age was 50 years. 53.6% of the population were male and 46.4% were female.
The median annual income was $ 57,448, with 6.3% of the population living below the poverty line.
In 2000, English was the mother tongue of 86.55% of the population, 10.41% spoke Spanish and 3.04% had another mother tongue.
Individual evidence
- ^ Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 . United States Census Bureau . Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ↑ Language distribution 2000 . Modern Language Association . Retrieved April 3, 2013.
