When Tarpon Springs became the first incorporated city on the Pinellas peninsula on Feb. 12, 1887, the sponge industry was already decades old. Sponges were discovered in the Florida Keys during the 1820s, and commercial sponging operations date back to about 1849.
Greek immigrants refined sponging in Tarpon Springs. Mechanized sponge fishing boats appeared in 1905 and a few years later, in 1906, the Sponge Exchange Bank was established. Businesses flourished around the sponge docks as restaurants, grocery stores and other vendors catered to the Greek immigrants.