Fall Lecture Series: The Florida Sponge War, Conflict Between Key West and the Gulf Towns

 Wednesday, December 9, 2026. Social hour at 5:00 p.m., lecture at 6:00 p.m. Dr. Rina Bousalis closes the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center’s fall lecture series with The Florida Sponge War.

Sponging built Key West. In the late 1800s and early 1900s it was one of the industries that made the island rich, and then Greek divers brought deep-water technique to Tarpon Springs in 1905 and the Gulf coast took the market. What followed was not a polite commercial rivalry. It ran to sabotage, threats and violent confrontation between fleets.

Bousalis is a faculty affiliate with FAU’s Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights and wrote the book of the same name, which traces the industry from its rise through the cultural clashes to its decline once synthetic sponges arrived.

Free for members, $10 for non-members, at 82100 Overseas Highway on the Islander Resort grounds.