NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The old schoolhouse building that is now home to the West Pasco Historical Society is more than a hundred years old – and it just survived two hurricanes without a scratch.
“It was touch and go for a while,” Bob Langford said.
Langford is the president of the historical society and said even after the storms caused so much destruction, he never lost faith that the centennial plans for the city of New Port Richey would go on as planned.
“I knew that we had put so much work, time, and people working on it that if there were any way to pull it off, we would have done it,” Langford said.
A wall-size picture inside the Historical Society museum shows the view looking east on Main Street in 1927.
“It was a very different time then," Langford said. "People were farming and the orange grove industry was big here."
Main Street is now full of new shops and restaurants, including the historic Hacienda Hotel.
All of it will be part of the100-year celebration on Saturday, Oct. 26, and will be full of events at Sims Park, culminating with a drone show.
“Our community has suffered so much with the losses of Helene and then with the damage from Milton," New Port Richey Public Information Officer Judy Myers said. "We think this is a great event the community really needs."
Many people have spent time in New Port Richey, from Johnny Cash to James Irwin, who walked on the moon.
But the everyday faces from the past and present have kept the city going for 100 years.
