Stock Island is an island in the Lower Florida Keys immediately east of Key West (separated from Key West by Cow Key Channel) in Monroe County, Florida. The population is approximately 4,500. Supposedly it was named for herds of livestock formerly kept there. Currently it is an island of transition and contrast.
The northern side of Stock Island which is incorporated into the City of Key West is home to the Key West Golf Course with its gated residential community, Florida Keys Community College, Tennessee Williams Center for the Performing Arts, Key West Botanical Gardens, Lower Keys Medical Center and the Monroe County Detention Center.
The southern side of the island is home to numerous mobile homes and community developed work force housing. Because of the deep water access to the Atlantic it has been the home for working marinas for the local fisherman and their boat yards, fish houses and shipyards. Because of more affordability and zoning it is the industrial backyard for Key West with car repair shops and warehouses.
As the Florida Keys change, so does Stock Island. The commercial fishing industry is scaling down making way for more and more recreational boating marinas, luxury townhomes and condominiums.
Stock Island is an island in the Lower Florida Keys immediately east of 
