Conch Republic Flag. Key West Flag

Key West seceded from the Union in 1982. It's true... well, sort of. In early spring of that year, the US Border Patrol erected a blockade on US Highway 1 at Florida City in an effort to keep out illegal immigrants.

On April 23rd of 1982 then-mayor Dennis Wardlow read a proclamation of secession, broke a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a 'US Navy' sailor, and then surrendered to the US Admiral in charge of the Key West naval base and demanded $1 billion in foreign aid to rebuild the Republic!

The United States Government, in an act typically short-sighted, failed to acknowledge the secession.

Key West Motto: We Seceded Where Others Failed