The Sponge Docks 

In today's high-tech world, it's hard to imagine making a living on an ancient tradition. But for sponge divers in Tarpon Springs, a practice that began in Greece lives on, surviving the ages and ever-changing technological advances.

 

Diving isn’t the only deep-rooted tradition in the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks community. Unlike most places in the U.S., the culture and commerce of the area have not noticeably changed since the town was incorporated in 1887.

 

The story begins in 1876, when A.W. Ormond and his daughter, Mary, built a small cabin near Spring Bayou. A sailor from Nassau sailed into the Bayou and soon after married Miss Mary Ormond.

 

Mary loved her little settlement and enjoyed watching the fish that would leap through the air. It was Mary who gave the small settlement the name “Tarpon Springs” in 1879, even though these flying fish turned out to be mullets, not tarpon. Despite the state’s natural beauty, the west coast of Florida was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1880, the wealthy saw manufacturer Hamilton Disston bought approximately four million acres of land. This purchase included Tarpon Springs.

 

But a town cannot be a town without a post office, right? Tarpon Spring’s first post office was established in 1884 and the railroad arrived soon after. Then, in 1887, with just 52 residents, Tarpon Springs was incorporated. “John Cheney, a promoter associated with Disston, discovered money could be made by harvesting the sponges growing in the waters of the Gulf” (spongedocks).

 

“The development of the sponge fishing industry in Tarpon Springs began when one John K. Cheyney, a Philadelphia banker with large land interests in the then new town on the Gulf coast of Florida, decided that sponging would be a good way to put Tarpon Springs on the map, economically” (Bernard 41).

 

Patrons looking for a vacation spot were certainly a source of substantial economic value for the community, but the sponge industry quickly became the “community’s most important industry” (spongedocks). In 1890 alone, the Cheney Sponge Company sold approximately one million dollars worth of sponge.

 

By 1900, Tarpon Springs was considered the largest sponging port in the United States. Six years later, the Sponge Exchange Bank was founded and in 1907, the Sponge Exchange was formed as a systematic was to buy and grade sponges. Today, the exchange square is no longer used to auction sponge but instead, as a place for shoppers to browse and purchase everything from sponge to snowcones and air plants. 

 

Many of the buildings remain intact. The Tarpon Sponge Company is one of them. Although the company is only about 30 years old, the building that houses it is the orginal structure from the Sponge Exchange glory days. 

 

For 3 decades the sponging industry boomed with thousands of sponge divers and about one hundred boats, hauling in massive amounts of sponge and loofah. 

 

But in 1938, Mother Nature took its tool on the town when blight infested the sponge beds, leaving just enough for the industry to hang on and continue to harvest and sell. 

 

Just when the sponges began to grow back normally, a massive red tide algae bloomed and destroyed all the sponge fields in the area. Between 1959 and 1970, the sponges slowly began to grow and return, allowing the industry to once again become successful; however, the industry to this day has never returned to its golden days in the early 1900's. 

 

Instead, Tarpon Springs' current tourism industry is the main source of economic power, pulling in about $20 million per year. Still, the local sponging industry totals approximately $2 million dollar each year and is reason why the majority of tourists choose to visit the area.