Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010.

[6] The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, was settled by farmers and fishermen[7] around 1876.

The name is said to have originated with a remark of Mrs. Ormond Boyer, an early settler from South Carolina, and who, while standing on the shore of the Bayou and seeing fish leaping, exclaimed, "See the tarpon spring!'

In 1882, Hamilton Disston, who in the previous year had purchased the land, ordered the creation of a town plan.

[1] Less than a year later on January 13, 1888, the Orange Belt Railway, the first railroad line to be built in what is now Pinellas County, arrived in the city.

Many people from Key West and the Bahamas settled in Tarpon Springs to hook sponges and then process them.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece.

[7] The cemetery contains the grave of Richard Quarls, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War who fought alongside his enslaver before moving to Tarpon Springs and choosing the new name "Christopher Columbus", and veterans of subsequent wars.

Tarpon Springs' climate borders on humid subtropical and tropical savanna, with warm temperatures year-round, although winter nights are cool.

Freezing temperatures (32 °F (0 °C) or lower) occur infrequently, while snowfall is extremely rare; there was accumulation in 1977 and 1989, while the years 1899, 1954, 1958, 1973, 2001, 2006, 2010, and 2014 either saw light snow mixed with rain, or flurries.

Summers are hot and very humid, causing frequent afternoon thunderstorms that can occasionally produce hail, and, even tornadoes or waterspouts off the Gulf of Mexico.

3.46% spoke Spanish, 1.09% at French, German 0.56%, and Italian was spoken by 0.55% of people living in Tarpon Springs.

[22] In 2007 and 2008, the Tarpon Springs established sister city relationships with Kalymnos, Halki, Symi, Hydra, and Larnaca, Cyprus, recognizing the historical link with those Greek-speaking islands.