Sotirios Anargyros – The founder
1849
Sotirios Anargyros was born in Spetses in 1849, originating from the glorious Spetses generation of Anargyra.
He was the most important personality of Spetses of the last century. He embodied the classic type of the young Greek immigrant.
1883
His thirst for success leads him from a young age to wanderings with stations in Istanbul, Romania, Egypt, France and finally England. It is there that he deals for the first time with tobacco.
In 1883 Anargyros, driven by his commercial instinct, immigrated to New York, USA. There he was hired by the large American-Jewish tobacco industry Thomson, which he eventually inherited after being adopted by the large industrialist.
Based on this business, Anargyros builds a real trade in tobacco and expands to almost the entire American market.
1894
In 1894 he returns for the first time to Spetses.
He remarries next year when he meets and a little later he marries his second cousin Eugenia Th. Anargyros. The couple is returning to America for another three years. However, his wife’s nostalgia for Spetses forces Anargyros to sell his business in America and settle in Spetses.
From the sale of his tobacco industry alone he then received the staggering sum of 650,000 dollars.
1904
The return of Anargyros to the island is the beginning of the development of Spetses.
His commercial activity continues in Greece, but Spetses is the focus of his actions.
In 1904 the construction of a luxurious mansion, neoclassical style, in the center of the city is completed. In 1907 he builds, at his own expense, the first aqueduct of the island.
1913
In 1913-14 the offer of the great benefactor to the island is great. First he buys a large area which he reforests, thus creating again the pine forest of Spetses which was then in danger of extinction due to uncontrolled logging and cultivation, second he opens ring roads on the island and third he builds the hotel “Poseidon”.
This last project gave a great tourist impetus to Spetses and made the island a resort center for the upper classes. Kings, princes, prime ministers and prominent personalities from all over the world were in Spetses every summer, as guests of this exquisite hotel.
1927
1927 marks the beginning of the Anargyreio and Korgialenio School of Spetses, which was the biggest offer of the national benefactor and really raised the cultural level of the island.
The “School” as it is known in Spetses, was one of the best model colleges in the country if not in the Balkans.
1928
In 1928, Spetses became the permanent anchorage of the area for the English fleet, resulting in the addition of English naval officers to the hotel clientele, giving it even greater glamor.
The nobility of this hotel is still evident today.
1983
Inspiration of El. Inspired by the inspiration of Elle Venizelos, his personal friend and the creation of Anargyros, the “School” educated a number of scholars, artists, scientists and politicians.
It operated until 1983, not only with Greek but also with foreign students.
