HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

New Port Richey

Early History

Sometime before the end of the last century, Captain Richey and his wife and daughter established a fish camp and store near the mouth of the River for the benefit of the scattered settlers in these parts and for the fishermen who are said to have filled their nets to overflowing every time they were set. He received a commission as Postmaster and established the first postoffice and named in Port Richey.

The first settlers who came into this section at the time of the Seminole Wars said the land was then covered by a heavy growth of pine. The woods were full of game, panther and bear. Years passed. After this timber was finally lumbered off by the Aripeka Saw Mill Company at Fivay about 1910, the owners of the land, Mr. P. L. Weeks and others, conceived the idea of platting out several sections into 10 acre tracts and laid out a town-site along the banks of the river where New Port Richey now stands. As the Port Richey Company, they opened a sales office in Tampa on Zack street, opposite the Postoffice. Mr. George R. Sims bought the interests of the Port Richey Company in 1913, and carried on the development of this community from then on to the present time. One of the early employees of the Port Richey Company was Gerben DeVries, afterward he became the first Postmaster of New Port Richey and a Temple Orange grower. As Postmaster, he served the town for 20 years, bringing the Postoffice up from fourth class to second class.

During 1914 the community began to show signs of growth, but it still had no postoffice, no stores, no churches, no school and no roads. For a place of worship, the settlers chose the open out-of-doors in the park on the east bank of the Pithlachascotee. On account of the crooked sand trails they had to buck with their Model T's, some of the citizens became ardent, if not fanatical good-road boosters for hard surfaced roads and paved highways. Senator Mitchell, Judge Holtzscheiter, Gerben DeVries and George R. Sims helped to organize the Florida Highway ASsociation, as there was at that time no Florida State Road Department. One of their main objectives was routing of the Dixie Highway through the scenic portions along the Gulf Coast, part of which later became US 19, and which now, since a new high-speed US 19 is being built through the back country, they expect to keep as Alternate US 19-A because of its scenic beauty and tourist appeal.

There being no direct road to Port Richey in the early days the mail was generally brought up from the post office there by boat and distributed in the Port Richey Company's office. In 1915 a Post Office was established under the name of New Port Richey.

New Port Richey Leads in its First Year

Location, Scenery and Natural Advantages Aid Hustling Citizens in Town Development

New Port Richey is booming! Development has set in on all sides, and present indications are that there will be more activity in New Port Richey and vicinity this winter than in any other town in Florida.

Here is a partial list of what has happened in less than one year's time:

Rock road has been constructed by the county at an expense of $135,000, connecting New Port Richey with Tampa, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs and other points on the Pinellas Peninsula. This road follows the Gulf Coast north toward Brooksville and is part of the West Coast branch of the Dixie Highway and the old Spanish Trail.

New iron bridge has been constructed by the county over the Cotee River near New Port Richey.

The Tampa & Gulf Coast Railway has inaugurated daily train service between New Port Richey, Tarpon Springs, Tampa, St. Petersburg and other points.

Postoffice has been established and the business every month is showing a phenomenal increase. Local and long distance telephone system has been installed.

A new school house has been completed at a cost of $2,500, and is now in full operation.

A new church has been constructed, which when completed will represent an investment of $3,000. Services are held regularly with a large attendance.

A Community Club has been organized with membership of over fifty, and material has been ordered for a club house which will be located in Enchantment Park. This will be the civic amusement and recreation center for the community.

A number of attractive new homes and bungalows have been built in the townsite by newcomers from the North. Hotel has been built and is doing a good business.

Several new stores have been opened, including a drug store, meat market, dry goods store, shoe store and grocery store.

A large portion of the townsite has been cleared and the brush burned, the largest and best trees being left standing.

The circle around Orange Lake has been cleared grubbed, fenced and planted to Italian Rye and Bermuda grass. Enchantment Park has been cleared of underbrush and planted to grass seed.

Two solid blocks along the river front and adjoining the Boulevard have been cleared and the brush burned.

A Boulevard has been constructed around Orange Lake and through Enchantment Park.

Concrete walks and curbs have been laid around a large portion of Orange Lake.

Hard roads and sidewalks are being constructed on additional streets.

New streets are being laid off and blocks staked out for building sites.

Numerous small farms surrounding New Port Richey have been cleared by new settlers who have built or will build houses and will begin raising crops this spring.

Massachusetts Avenue has been hard-surfaced by the county for almost 1 1/4 miles.

A number of new launches and boats have been added to the number that were already here, and steps are being taken to organize a boat club for the purpose of building a boat house which will be located in Enchantment Park.

Very few towns in Florida can boast of such rapid growth and development. On all sides one hears exclamations of surprise and amazement. A beautiful little city has sprung up out of the brush, almost over night. Those who have been here before and who are now returning to spend another winter are amazed at the changes that have taken place and the natural beauty of the location is being revealed as the land is cleared and improvements put in.

It is the same old climate, which can never be excelled, but it is in reality a New Port Richey that meets the eye as one comes in on the train or by automobile.

The local residents are co-operating in every movement for the advancement and betterment of New Port Richey. These hardy pioneers, most of whom are from the Northern States, are beginning to see their dreams come true.

One of the greatest assets this community possesses is the loyalty, optimism and aggressiveness of its citizens. Their confidence in the future of the city and the surrounding country is beginning to be shared by residents of Tampa, St. Petersburg and other cities, and every indication points to the rapid growth of this new Gulf Coast city.

Jasmin Point's $300,000 Golf Club

Burns-Becker Corporation Plan 18 Hole Course From Cotee's Riverbank To Gulf

By GEORGE G. HOLLAND

An eighteen-hole golf course, with a country clubhouse and swimming pool, the complete layout fringed by villa sites, will be built on some 200 acres of land west of the Cotee river, it is announced by the Burns-Becker Corporation.

Construction of the course will begin as soon as legal formalities are completed. Nine holes of the course, it is expected, will be playable by next winter. The new institution is to be known as the Jasmin Point Golf Club. Its authorized capital is $300,000.

These are some of the facts in connection with the latest undertaking of the Burns-Becker interests, which were made public yesterday by Warren E. Burns. The Burns-Becker company has been working quietly for some weeks, assembling sufficient land to make the area of the links sufficient. More than 200 acres of choice property, lying between the west bank of the river and the gulf of Mexico, are involved in the project.

Eighty acres of land owned by the Dickinson interests of St. Petersburg have been purchased by the Burns-Becker Corporation for the new golf course. This property adjoins Jasmin Point Estates, and is, in part, the former A. K. LaMotte holdings. The site of the old La Motte residence will probably be the site of the new clubhouse. The clubhouse, it is made known, will not be attempted immediately. Work on the links is to be started forthwith, however.

Stock memberships in the club limited to 100 persons under present plans, with additional members to be taken in from time to time, will be sold at $1,000 each. This money will be devoted to improvement of the land, and the memberships will also share in pro rata in the realty transactions, that is the sale of villa sites which will surround the course. The proposition is similar to that of Soundviewe Golf Club in Greatneck, L. I., the building of which years ago by Charles Harrison Goddard, was the chief factor in Greatneck's surge forward as one of the most famous suburbs of Greater New York.

The clubhouse, according to [illegible] around which was built Great Neck estates, and the sale of land netted Mr. Goddard several millions of dollars, with the property of the gulf links having become recently so valuable that the entire course has been sold for a staggering sum of money.

The topography of the country secured by the Burns-Becker Corporation for their latest development project is considered ideally suited from the standpoint of golf architecture. Many of the hazards have been provided by nature, the course skirting a pretty assortment of bayous and small lakes. The large lake west of the La Motte home is to be made into a large swimming pool.

The La Motte or Dickinson property was purchased for the sum of $100,000, it is made known, one of the highest prices ever paid in this section for a large tract of property.

The clubhouse, according to plans, will front on the river and the last hole will be approached from the west, so that homecoming golfers will have played from the river to the gulf and back to the river again. The enterprise, first official news of which is contained in today's Press, is bound to be construed as one of the most important steps yet made in assuring New Port Richey's popularity as a high-class tourist-resort town.

Gene Sarazen To Build Home at Jasmin Point

Noted Golf Professional Will Make New Port Richey
His “Permanent Home” Address

Will Supervise Construction and Manage New Jasmin Point Golf Club

Word has just been received from Warren E. Burns now in New York City that he has sold to Gene Sarazen, the noted golf professional, winner of the golf championship of the United States in 1922 and recent winner of the Long Island championship, a residential plot as Jasmin Point, opposite the property recently purchased by Thomas Meighan.

Mr. Sarazen is having plans prepared for the immediate construction of an attractive residence on the property just purchased, to cost about $20,000, which will be occupied by Mr. Sarazen.

A contract has also been signed whereby Mr. Sarazen will supervise the construction and manage the new Jasmin Point Golf Club, and his entries in all winter tournaments from now on will carry New Port Richey's name as his home course.

Mr. Sarazen is best known as the winner at the Skokie Country Club, Glencoe, Illinois, in 1922, when only 20 years old, of the open championship of the United States and in the same year, at Oakmont, Pa. of the Professional Golf Championship of the United States.

During the recent championship on the same course, he finished only one point behind the winner, almost performing the unusual feat of winning the championship twice over the same course.

Within the past two weeks, Mr. Sarazen won the championship of Long Island, New York, by 11 strokes, as representative of the Fresh Meadow Country club of Flushing, N. Y. where he is employed during the summer.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Sarazen have visited New Port Richey and have many friends among our townspeople, who will welcome them as permanent residents.

The addition of Mr. Sarazen's name to the growing list of notables residing in New Port Richey means much to the entire city and is of particular value in connection with the establishment of sports of all kinds for the entertainment of our visitors.

Rudy Snyder Remembers When

Recalling what New Port Richey was like in the 1920's came easily to Rudy Snyder. Snyder retired from the Post Office in New Port Richey in May of 1974 after 22 years of service in the area. He remembers that in 1925 all that was needed by the post office to serve the several hundred residents was a Post Master and occasional extra help.

The town had only five paved streets, and Snyder says they were Boulevard South, E. Main, Montana, Delaware, Central and around the circle. The bridges on Boulevard South and W. Main were of wood and steel. Snyder said Boulevard South was called the Dixie Highway and was the main route through west Florida.

Railroad tracks ran from Tarpon Springs to New Port Richey along what is now Nebraska Avenue. Snyder said the train either backed into or out of New Port Richey from Tarpon.

He recalled the paving and grading of the streets was done by mule skinners carrying big bull whips for the mules. Rudy lived on Tennessee Avenue which was one of the dirt roads. If two cars were going in opposite directions, he said, one or the other had to pull out of the rut to allow the other to pass.

The several hundred residents lived in the main part of town which ended at the bridge on W. Main and one block north of the Methodist church. He said a smaller community of residents lived out on Jasmine Point. Recalling this, Snyder said that movie star Gloria Swanson maintained a home there.

Rudy remembers trying to plant grass in their yard. He said that due to low pressure it took from five to ten minutes to fill a bucket of water. The town had one well and a reserve tank.

The town had an all volunteer fire department. The only vehicle they had was a brush truck equipped with a reserve tank. Snyder said the fires they fought were mainly grass fires. There were few house fires even though Snyder said the homes were built of pine and cypress wood. There were no cement blocks in the area. All the homes were built on piers off the ground to keep them from being destroyed by termites.

In 1927, Snyder said the town began to install the first septic tank. He remembers they had to blast through rock and it took five to six centrifugal pumps to keep the tide out as they dug the hole for the project.

The high school Rudy attended is the building now occupied by the Pasco-Hernando Community college. The elementary school building is now the City Administration building. While attending high school Rudy played on the baseball and basketball team. They had no football team. Rudy played shortstop on the first team in baseball and was on the second team for basketball. He laughed as he remembered it took most of the boys in the school to make up the teams.

Home plate for the baseball field was located where the Roscoe Drugs building is now. A ball hit into left field landed in the area which is now the Hacienda Hotel.

There were two golf courses. The smaller one was a nine hole course around Orange Lake. On Jasmine Point there was a full 18 hole course. The golf pro at the time was Gene Sarazen. Rudy recalls he wore knickers and on occasion he says he has seen him appear in knickers on TV.

The Hacienda Hotel was built in 1927 and Rudy said it was rumored that it was a front for rum runners. The first theatre in the area was just a shell of a building. Rudy remembers the dirt floor and wood seats. In 1925-26 the Meighan Theatre was built on Boulevard South. The black people in the community who attended the theatre bought their tickets at the box office. They then went to the side of the building where they had to enter up a fire escape and sit in a segregated section of the balcony, Snyder remembered.

While attending school Rudy worked on several of the poultry farms. He said there were many. There also were no range laws, Snyder said. The cattle and other animals roamed free. It was necessary to fence them out. To prevent them from damaging gardens a common sight was for the homes to have cattle guards. Snyder explained this as a culvert that was dug at the entrance to the house, a frame was made and metal or wood poles were laid on the top. The cattle would not cross these. To identify their own cattle or pigs the ears were clipped on the animals by owners.

These cattle guards not only kept the stray cattle out but also excluded other wild animals.

Rudy's uncle was a fur buyer and he saw many animal pelts. In the area there were bobcats, black bear, deer and otter. Rudy is mentioned in a book written in 1962 by Ralph Bellwood entitled "Tales of West Pasco." In a section Bellwood describes a camping trip in 1930 with Rudy and two small boys at Moon Lake. They were awakened in the middle of the night by the screams of a panther. Rudy said the area was mighty wild then.

Rudy left Florida in 1932 and moved to Ohio. There he met and married his wife Mabel. While living in Ohio Rudy served in World War II. In 1954, with his wife and son Les, they came back to New Port Richey. Les is now a graduate of the University of Florida.

The Snyders remain very active in New Port Richey. They both are active members of the Gulf High Booster Club. On a wall they proudly display plaques naming them as lifetime members. Another plaque was awarded to Rudy by the Sertoma for citizen of the year. When Rudy retired in May he was honored by 50 members of the Post Office.

Reflections of John Grey

Editor's note: John Grey, 42, is president of F. I. Grey and Son, the real estate company his grandfather started in 1924.

By JOHN GREY

I was born in New Port Richey in 1944 and have lived here ever since. So even though I'm not an old-timer, I guess I am a long-timer.

As I was growing up in New Port Richey there were very few paved streets. Most of what is now the city was still woods. Everyone knew everyone, and you never passed anyone without saying hello or waving. We had one telephone operator, Hilda Anderson, and she would always help you if there was a problem.

Chasco Fiesta was a really big event in my childhood days -- everyone in town dressed as Indians for one long weekend a year. Sims Park was full of all types of homemade food and games. The major events were the Indian pageant, Des Little Bar-B-Q and the Sunday boat parade. Most years there would be 150 to 200 decorated boats. They would come from Clearwater to Weeki Wachee to join the fun.

Another fond memory of mine was baseball. I played in the first Little League West Pasco ever had. There were two teams -- one coached by my Dad, Jim Grey, and one coached by Fred Marchman -- our uniforms were T-shirts and blue jeans, and we played each other every Saturday. By 1957 they had six Little League and four Pony League teams and games were being played on St. Clair Field on Gulf Drive.

I went to grammar school at Pierce Elementary (now City Hall) and high school (7-12) at what is now Schwettman Adult Education. In high school we played all our home basketball games on either the old school outdoor court next to the river or on the court at Sims Park. I can tell you some of those night games at Sims Park in the winter were pretty cold.

I remember the 1959 baseball team. We had won the conference and were runner-up in the state, and we had a big assembly and presented the trophy. Then we promptly threw all the male coaches and faculty in the river from the bridge, fully dressed. Good clean fun!

Roscoe's Drugstore, then across from the theater at the corner of Boulevard and Nebraska, or Zane Rankins Groceries at the corner of Gulf Drive and Boulevard were the after school hangouts in the 1950s and early '60s.

Roscoe's was where Jim Fredrick, Bill Dennigar, Tom Kolean and I would pick up our evening papers for our paper routes, Evening Independent. We could play football or baseball right on Boulevard and seldom even have to worry about cars. My route covered from Main Street north and from Washington Street east. Most of the streets were just dirt including most of Massachusetts Avenue and all of Congress.

High school employment from 1960 on -- it seems like half the kids in town worked for Ardean North at North Funeral Homes. For years they ran the ambulance service (for free) and we would all work as ambulance drivers or attendants. It was either the funeral home, Winn Dixie, Potter Bros. Groceries or the orange groves, not a real big choice for employment.

Reflections of Jim Clark

Editor's note: Jim Clark, 61, is a retired music teacher who still substitutes at his alma mater, Gulf High School.

By JIM CLARK

I guess you could call me a "native" of New Port Richey, as I was born on the second floor of the Clark Building, now known as the Wag-On-Inn. This building housed a drug store and Pasco Hardware. In 1926 the town was very small, most of the roads were sandy, and everyone knew each other. My father, James W. Clark Jr., lived in this area all his life, having been the first fire chief and also mayor three different times.

The first school I attended was Pierce Elementary School in the fall of 1931. It is the same building City Hall is located. The entire school, grades 1-6, had about 100 students. For many years, the school term lasted only seven months.

From the time I was 8 or 9 years old my two main interests were music and sports. One of my earliest recollections was playing baseball with some of my friends at the city ball park. It was the only ball park in this area, and was in the block where Pasco Office Supply now stands.

Since there was no television, Sunday afternoons were spent at the ball park watching the New Port Richey Semi-Pro Baseball team play various teams in the area. Sometimes a few players were "imported" from Tampa. One of the most inspiring players during this time was a great left-handed power hitter from Elfers named "Stocky" Stockman. He looked very much like Babe Ruth, and I used to marvel at some of the tape-measure home runs he hit. The one that I remember most vividly he sent "downtown" on the top of the Wag-On-Inn. Quite a poke in any ballpark!

During this time we also had an outstanding black baseball team called the New Port Richey Bluebirds. They beat many of the semi-pro teams in Central Florida.

In the fall of 1937 I entered Gulf High School, one of only two high schools in Pasco County.

Three teachers that I remember very well were J. H. St. Clair, H. J. McIntyre and Fred Marchman. Professor St. Clair was a really great teacher who inspired his students, and commanded great respect. Mac, as the kids all called him, and Fred spent many years on the Gulf High staff as shop and mathematics teachers respectively. St. Clair Field is named after Mr. St. Clair, and Marchman Vocational School after Mr. Marchman.

In 1937 Gulf had only two sports, basketball and baseball. They did have football teams there in the early '30s, but dropped the sport. The basketball team played on an outside court made of "screen" or fine rock. It was on the south side of what is now Schwettman Adult Education Center. Baseball was played on the town field.

In 1938 the football program was renewed.

In my senior year at Gulf I finally had an opportunity to play football, after playing basketball and baseball. I had some knee problems, but managed to hold my own on a team that went 5-2-1 for the season.

Because of gas rationing, football was the only sport at Gulf High during my senior year (1942-43). Watching Dennis Line perform as the kicker for Gulf this past year and playing trumpet in the band brought back many memories for me. During the football season I played entire games at center and linebacker, and then marched in the Gulf Band at halftime. All this was in my football uniform with my big sousaphone. Great fun!

After college my first teaching position was music director at Gulf High School, which had about 300 students in grade 7-12. I directed the band and chorus there from 1950-56. My marching band had 60 members.

During these three decades, New Port Richey had just begun to grow a little. By 1960, it was still a small town by today's standards. I do know that I enjoyed these years because everyone knew the people around them. I still enjoy living here, but it was nice when it was smaller. I married in 1954, and have lived in the same area for the last 31 years -- Virginia Avenue. All four of my children graduated from Gulf.

The Mayors of New Port Richey

Notes:

In 1934 James Washington Clark Jr. attended some city council meetings, although Marx Goodman seems to have presided even at those meetings.

History of the New Port Richey Post Office (1965)

By RALPH BELLWOOD

After much planning, correspondence and hard work on the part of a small group of early settlers in the village of New Port Richey under the guiding hand of Gerben M. DeVries, the New Port Richey Post Office came into being on the 29th day of June 1915. Mr. DeVries was one of the founding fathers of the thinly settled community on the Pithlachascotee River in West Pasco County which was destined to become a resplendent city.

Due to his arduous work in getting postal facilities for the town, Mr. DeVries was appointed to the office of Postmaster. This position enabled him to keep his fingers on the pulse of the fast growing community which in ten years received its charter as an incorporated town.

The first Post Office was located in a building near the corner of Main Street and the Boulevard. The facilities for the Fourth Class Post Office consisted of a wooden shipping box which was divided into fifteen small compartments or "pigeon holes" where mail was placed in alphabetical order after being sorted, and from which it was handed out over a counter when called for by patrons.

In the due course of time the facilities were moved to more spacious quarters at the corner of Main and Adams Streets in a building where the New Port Richey Press was born and published on a hand operated press. After a number of years the facilities were again moved to a building in the middle of the block between the Boulevard and Adams Street. At this time the Arcade Building was being erected and upon its completion the Post Office was moved into the north west quarter of the large building. It remained there until 1959 when it was moved into the present building south of Orange Lake on Circle Boulevard.

After serving as Postmaster for twenty years, during which time the Post Office was raised to second class, Mr. DeVries retired from his position. Then a prominent man by the name of Fred Friarson was appointed to the position of Postmaster. After serving for four years, Friarson resigned and was replaced by Bob Sims who served as Acting Postmaster for nearly a year until Paul Mayer was appointed Postmaster in 1940. Mr. Mayer occupied this position for twenty-four years, retiring from it January 31, 1964. During Mr. Mayor's tenure in office the Post Office became First Class. City delivery was begun March 16, 1955. A rural route covering approximately eighty miles served patrons in a large area. In 1963 a second rural route was established which enlarged the area of service in all directions.

The original Post Office served less than one hundred persons. Today it serves between 18,000 and 20,000 individuals. Receipts for the last four decades are as follows:

It remains to be seen what the receipts will be in 1965.

Though the present facilities were only built in 1959, it is apparent there is already a need for expansion. We dare not predict what the next fifty years will bring, but we anticipate even greater growth and development.

Golf Champ Sarazen's Kindness Remembered

By RICHARD VERRIER

New Port Richey residents fondly recall the man who helped develop the city's first golf course.

David Luikart Sr. was only 5 years old at the time, but he still remembers the man with the fancy clothes who invited him onboard the Goodyear Blimp.

"He was going to take me up, and my mother vetoed that pretty quick," said Luikart, now 74.

The man was young golf celebrity Gene Sarazen. The occasion was the grand opening of the Jasmine Point Golf Club, the nine-hole golf course that Sarazen helped develop. The time was February 1929.

"He liked kids," said Luikart, whose brothers caddied at the club. "He was a fine gentleman."

Sarazen's recent death at age 97 evoked fond memories from those who knew him in New Port Richey - the town where he owned a home, helped build the city's first golf course and invented what would become his most enduring contribution to golf: the sand wedge.

In recognition of Sarazen's ties to New Port Richey, the City Council voted last week to nominate Sarazen for a Great Floridian 2,000 award.

The Florida League of Cities award would pay for a plaque in memory of Sarazen that might be placed at the new overlook to Sims Park at the Main Street Bridge.

Sarazen, a native of Harrison, N.Y., already was a rising golf star by the time he came to New Port Richey in 1926. He had won the 1922 U.S. Open as a 20-year-old, and the 1922 and '23 PGA Championships.

Local developers George Sims, Warren Burns and James Becker recruited him to help build a golf course at the Jasmine Point subdivision.

Sarazen built a two-story, Spanish-style home on River Road North. He soon befriended his neighbor across the river, Thomas Meighan, the silent movie star who had just opened the Meighan Theater.

Meighan wasn't an especially good golfer. "He'd throw his clubs off in the palmetto bushes," said real estate broker John Grey, whose father, James, was a caddy at the Jasmine Point club.

But Meighan, who eventually became the golf club's president, had ambitious plans for New Port Richey and wanted Sarazen to be a part of them.

"He was determined to make this a Hollywood winter community," Grey said.

The golf course, billed as a course for the average player, opened in 1929 with nine holes. It ran along Avery Road and what is now both sides of U.S. 19. The ninth hole cut behind what is now the HoHo Chinese restaurant, where a pond is the only reminder of the now- defunct course.

The Jasmine Point Club closed after the Depression. Sarazen sold his home in 1934, but not before leaving his greatest legacy: the sand wedge.

Like most golfers, Sarazen had difficulty with sand traps. He was determined to find a solution. He spent countless hours soldering irons in his home and at Scofield-Huddleston Garage (now a three- story office building) at the corner of Grand and Gulf boulevards.

With his new club, Sarazen went on to win the U.S. Open and the British Open in 1932.

Despite his celebrity status, Sarazen enjoyed mingling with city residents and helped popularize golf among local youth.

"He'd do anything to promote golf," Grey said. "He'd give away clubs."

"He helped develop a little golf course around Orange Lake so the children could have a place to play," said New Port Richey native Frances Mallett, who remembers playing at the course when she was 12.

"He was trying to get kids interested in golf."

One day, in the early 1930s, Mallett said, she and other students at her elementary school were let out early to watch a parade down Main Street in honor of Sarazen, who had just won a major golf tournament.

"We were very much impressed with his knickers (golf pants), his big check and his big, fancy open touring car," said Mallett, past board member of the West Pasco Historical Society.

Allan Safranek Sr., former owner of Richey Realty, said he occasionally caddied for Sarazen and "shagged" or retrieved balls him when he was 12.

"He was just constantly practicing with his irons" at the Jasmine Point Golf Club, Safranek said.

"He would shoot all these balls and we would go retrieve them. He practiced, practiced and practiced."

Safranek also remembers Sarazen for his generosity.

"He tipped good, 50 cents. And boy, I mean, that was something," said Safranek, 81. "Meighan gave you a dime or quarter and would make you get his balls in the water.

"He (Sarazen) was so good to caddies because he was a caddy once. He treated all caddies like they were human beings. He was just a wonderful guy, and I never saw him without his knickers."

New Port Richey's Friendly Churches (1947)

By MRS. CHAS H. HUNTER

NEW PORT RICHEY, one of the prettiest small communities located on the west coast of Florida nestling among the palms, flowering shrubs, and fruit trees, boasts of six denominational churches to serve its people.

Back in 1914, the citizens of this community gathered together in the palm grove at the edge of the Pithlachascotee River now known as Sims Park, and conducted services for all who had located here. This was the beginning of religious services here and finally was the means of the different denominations to organize their own special church.

The Methodist Church, built in 1916 on Pennsylvania Avenue, has been enlarged and improved as the years have gone by and now is one of the leading churches in the vicinity, with Rev. A. J. Armstrong, an energetic young man serving his people at the present time. Plans are now in progress for the erection of an educational building, the refinishing of the exterior of the present church plant, and the making of a parking lot near by.

The First Baptist Church located on Central Avenue, was built in 1926, having organized about 1918 in a small store building on the site of the old John Snell home corner of Central Avenue and Adams Street, later going to the Snell Hall on Main Street, which is now demolished, to hold services. This church edifice has been improved during the past years and all organizations connected with it are active year around. Rev. A. J. Hoolsema is the present pastor.

The Community Congregational Church, located on the circle, was organized in 1921, after holding services at the old Snell Hall on Main Street. That same year a church building was erected, where it still stands. During the passing of the years several pastors have served the congregation and now Rev. Floyd H. Andrus will complete his six years as pastor on October 1.

Additions have been placed on the rear of the main edifice to afford room for its activities, with many improvements being made from time to time.

The first interest shown in the movement of forming a Christian Science organization here was due to the healing of one of the local residents, who, after being healed of her serious malady, invited a group of people to her home to begin meetings of this faith, in 1919.

In 1924 the group held meetings at the Woman's Club on Main Street, east of the post office location, when regular readers were chosen. During the same year (1924) they moved to the Civic Club in Sims Park. In January of 1928 they became a recognized branch of the Mother Church continuing to hold services there until February of 1939 when services were discontinued owing to so many leaving the city. In February of 1947, services were again resumed at the Civic Club.

Our Lady Queen of peace Catholic Church held its first mass in a private home in 1914, with Rev. Father Felix, the first pastor, continuing to serve until 1919. The present church was built in 1919, and in 1921, the Rectory was completed.

A meeting place was deemed necessary so in 1931 the present Catholic Hall was built next to the church on Washington Street. Outside of the American Legion Hall, it is the only hall of any size where denominational meetings are held. At present, with a resident congregation of about 70 families, it is necessary to have two Masses on Sunday mornings.

Rev. Father Maurus Cook is the present pastor.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was organized by a small group of local residents and in 1926 the present edifice was built, which is located on Jefferson Street. Many improvements have been made during intervening years, with a parish house added to the rear of the church a few years later.

Rev. E. B. Robinson of Dunedin serves as pastor of this church, along with several others in this section on his circuit.

All the churches show a marked increase in attendance when the visitors return south for the winter season.