Harry Davis Jr., Key Largo’s first Black fire chief, was a true Conch who was born in 1944 on his father’s pistol range, in the area that is now called Port Largo. Due to Monroe County’s segregation laws at the time, Davis Jr. was not allowed to attend Coral Shores High School. So he took a Greyhound bus all the way to Homestead in order to get his education.
Key Largo fire commissioner Frank Conklin told Keys Weekly that when Coral Shores High School caught fire in 1968, Davis Jr. didn’t let that negative history bother him. As a member of the all-volunteer Key Largo Fire Rescue, he worked all night long to help contain the flames. He never left his post in order to save the school that he was not allowed to attend.
“He was a very humble man,” Conklin said…