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1928 AHEPA Convention
This panoramic view of the convention of AHEPA (American Hellenic Educational and Progressive Association) includes both members as well as local residents in front of the Tarpon Springs City Hall in 1928. Many AHEPA members wear a fez with AHEPA and…
aeriel view of Anclote River
This 1947 aerial view shows the Anclote River winding to the Gulf, with Anclote Key in the background. It also reveals more limited activity on the Sponge Docks—with fewer boats and cars. In the lower left on Athens Street you can see the beginnings…
Allisandratos family
The Allisandratos family gathers together outside their home in 1920: adults Demosthenes, Asimoulas’ mother Athena Kamvisis, Asimoula, and children Tako, baby Katherine, Andrew, and Alexander. The Allisandratos family has remained in the same house…
Angel family on picnic
The Angel (originally Angeliniadis) family often had holiday picnics on the beach—and they remember them today with great fondness. This one took place on July 7, 1929—the date carved in the watermelon. Left to right, they are George Angel,…
Anna Ioanidis and Sylvia Billiris outside gift shop
Anna Smolios Kouskoutis Ioanidis (right) worked in Sylvia Billiris’ (left) gift shop during the 1950s. With the decline of the sponge business in the late 1940s and early 1950s, tourism based on Greek culture and the sponge industry became Tarpon…
Anna Tsoukalas Billiris baptism
Uncle and godfather Theophilos Samarkos hands young Anna Tsoukalas Billiris to Father Constantinos Raptis for her immersion into the baptismal font at St. Nicholas in 1956. Baptism marks the entry of the child into the church, and usually occurs a…
Antonios Avgerinos
With the spongers came many other Greeks working in related maritime businesses: ship chandlers, machine shops, boat builders, a sail loft, and sponge packing houses. Antonios Avgerinos (1860-1930) was a successful diving helmet maker from Symi who…
auction day in Sponge Exchange
Piles of all types of sponges fill the courtyard of the Sponge Exchange on an auction day in 1921. Most of the men in the courtyard appear to be Greek, except for the African American man walking towards the camera. He was one of many who worked in…
boat yard at the Sponge Docks
1932. The 1910 census reveals that six Greek ship carpenters resided in Tarpon Springs. The Greeks learned their skills as apprentices to master ship builders. In Tarpon Springs they probably worked full-time in the construction and repair of diving…
cleaning sponges before auction
Back in port, the crew finishes cleaning and sorting sponges for auction on October 10, 1969. Cleaning the animals entails allowing their skins to decompose, rinsing them with water and squeezing them to eliminate internal matter and bits of skin,…