John King Cheyney (April 1, 1858 – March 19, 1939) was a Sponge Company & Sponge Exchange founder, a local politician and a sponge industry promoter in

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

. A memorial on Dodecanese Boulevard commemorates his life. He is listed as a

Great Floridian Great Floridian is a title bestowed upon citizens in the state of Florida by the Florida Department of State. There were actually two formal programs. The Great Floridian 2000 program honored deceased individuals who made "significant contribution ...

Biography

He was born in Philadelphia. He died in

Legacy

The John K. Cheney House (1890) at 30 West Tarpon was home for the Philadelphia banker who financed establishment of the sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, bringing Greeks from the

Dodecanese Islands The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. ...

. His efforts as a land developer seeking establish Tarpon as a sponging center failed for nine years until the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

caused boats from

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

to shelter in the area. In 1896 the first Greek,

John Cocoris John Michael Cocoris ( el, Γιάννης Μιχάλης Κόκκορης; September 17, 1877 – 1944) was a Greek people, Greek businessman. Born in Leonidio, he came to New York City in 1895 to work in the sea sponge, sponge trade. In 189 ...

, arrived and he brought his brothers in 1901.

References

1858 births 1939 deaths Sponge diving American company founders Businesspeople from Philadelphia 19th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople Tarpon Springs, Florida Businesspeople from Florida {{US-business-bio-1850s-stub