Tarpon Springs, Florida  

2008

The City of Tarpon Springs was established along the Anclote River, where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico.  The name of the city was inspired by the tarpon, a fish that inhabits the nearby waters. The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, first attracted attention as a place for winter homes about 1876.  The first Greek immigrants arrived to this city during the 1880s, when they were hired to work as divers in the growing sponge harvesting industry.

     Sponges were discovered in the Florida Keys during the 1820s.  A commercial sponging operation was founded there around 1849.  Long poles were used to harvest sponges from the beds off the Keys. 

     Turtle fishermen from Key West discovered the sponge beds off the west coast of central Florida in 1873 accidentally when sponges off the mouth of the Anclote River snagged their nets.  Spongers came to the area to work the beds and some relocated to Tarpon Springs.  In 1890, John Cheyney, a Tarpon businessman, opened the Anclote River and rock Island Sponge Company across the river from Tarpon Springs.

     During the 1890s, sponge-packing houses were built in the City, sponge presses were installed and buyers moved to town.  Gradually the sponge business shifted its center from Key West, Cuba and the Bahamas to Tarpon Springs. 

     By 1900 the City was considered the largest sponge port in the United States.     City of Tarpon Springs Web Site