The Name Behind the DeVries and Gerben Buildings: New Port Richey’s First Postmaster

In 1914, if you lived on the new streets around Orange Lake and wanted your mail, you had to go get it, rowing down the Pithlachascotee River to the post office in Port Richey. There were no direct roads. When the neighbors’ plea for a mail route by land went nowhere, one of them wrote a sentence that would shape the town: they would “get a postoffice of our own.” His name was Gerben Myer DeVries, and today two buildings at The Central on Orange Lake, the DeVries and the Gerben, carry it.

Gerben DeVries at a Glance

• Full name: Gerben Myer DeVries (1880 to 1953)
• Born: Iowa
• First visit: The day after Thanksgiving, 1913
• Moved here: June 1914, bringing his family from St. Johns, Michigan
• First job in town: An early employee of the Port Richey Company, the developer of the new town site
• Postmaster: New Port Richey’s first, commissioned in 1915 and serving about 20 years
• Also known for: Writing the legend behind the first Chasco Fiesta in 1922
• Honored today: The Gerben DeVries Parking Area marker on Main Street, and the DeVries and Gerben buildings at The Central

A Town Without a Post Office

DeVries first saw this stretch of the Gulf Coast the day after Thanksgiving in 1913. He later remembered that Port Richey then had a store and a post office run by David Clark, and not much else. The Port Richey Company was laying out a new town along the Cotee River and around Orange Lake, and DeVries, who went to work for the company, moved his family down from Michigan in June 1914.

The new settlement had big plans but no mail of its own. According to a history of the twin towns published by Patch, a carrier even refused the route residents proposed down Madison Street. So the neighbors petitioned Washington for their own office.

How New Port Richey Got Its Name

Getting a post office meant getting a name, and that turned out to be harder than it sounds. On March 30, 1914, a post office inspector came to size up the need. Residents asked for “Newport-Richey.” The Post Office Department said no, worried about confusion with Newport, Florida, and with Port Richey itself. “Chascotee” was turned down too. It was Congressman Stephen Sparkman who offered the compromise: split “Newport” into two words. New Port Richey was born.

The application for the office is dated February 20, 1915. On April 4, the Tampa Morning Tribune reported that “Gerben M. DeVries is applicant for postmaster.” His commission came through that summer, dated July 21, 1915, and the New Port Richey post office opened on August 30, 1915.

A Four-by-Six Post Office

It started small. By DeVries’s own account, the first New Port Richey post office worked out of a four-by-six-foot space in the Hermanson and Draft building. Money orders followed on November 1, 1915, and by January 1916 the office had moved into the drug store. Chester Wilcox, recalling the town of those years, placed the post office right on the main street, with the newspaper office just beyond it.

As the town grew, so did the office. It advanced to third class in July 1920, and in 1921 DeVries, writing as postmaster in the New Port Richey Press, put the town’s population at about 1,500. A 1948 profile credited him with serving the town for 20 years and lifting the office from fourth class to second class.

The Postmaster Who Invented a Legend

DeVries was not just the man who sorted the mail. He was one of the town’s great promoters, and in the winter of 1915 he chronicled the new board of trade formed to sell New Port Richey to the world. His most lasting promotion came in 1922.

That January, the story goes, DeVries was fishing on the Pithlachascotee River on New Year’s Day when he found a clay cylinder holding a parchment signed by a “Padre Luis.” The scroll told of a Spanish girl, Isabella, adopted by the local tribe and crowned Queen Chasco, and of her love for Prince Pithla. The Tampa Morning Tribune ran the find on February 8, 1922, under the headline “Find Record of Old Tribe of Indians.” The first Chasco Fiesta followed in March 1922 in what is now Sims Park.

DeVries later admitted the scroll was his invention, a tale modeled on Tampa’s Gasparilla and created to draw crowds to the city. It worked. The West Pasco Historical Society tells the full story of that first fiesta, and the Chasco Fiesta still brings crowds to Sims Park every spring.

The DeVries and Gerben Buildings

The buildings at The Central on Orange Lake are named for people who shaped New Port Richey, and Gerben DeVries gets two, one for each half of his name. It fits. He helped give the town its mail, its name on the map and its most famous festival. You can see his name on Main Street, too, where the Gerben DeVries Parking Area marker honors him as “an early promoter of New Port Richey.” The West Pasco Historical Society’s New Port Richey timeline and the city’s Wikipedia history are the best places to dig deeper, and his story is one more reason the Downtown District, supported by New Port Richey Main Street, rewards anyone who slows down and reads the markers in Downtown New Port Richey.

Want to see the town Gerben DeVries helped name? The West Pasco Historical Society Museum sits in a renovated 1915 schoolhouse in Sims Park, steps from The Central on Orange Lake. Check their Facebook page for current hours and stop in.

Gerben DeVries and New Port Richey: Frequently Asked Questions

Who was New Port Richey’s first postmaster?

Gerben Myer DeVries. His commission was dated July 21, 1915, and the New Port Richey post office opened on August 30, 1915.

How did New Port Richey get its name?

Residents asked for “Newport-Richey,” but the Post Office Department rejected it. Congressman Stephen Sparkman suggested splitting “Newport” into two words, giving the town the name New Port Richey.

Did Gerben DeVries start the Chasco Fiesta?

He wrote the legend behind it. In 1922 he announced the “discovery” of a scroll telling the story of Queen Chasco, later admitting he made it up to draw crowds. The first Chasco Fiesta was held in March 1922.

Where is the Gerben DeVries marker?

On Main Street in Downtown New Port Richey, where a parking area is named in his honor.

Why are two buildings at The Central named DeVries and Gerben?

The buildings at The Central on Orange Lake are named for people who shaped New Port Richey. Gerben DeVries is honored with two, one for each half of his name.

Life at The Central

History is part of the neighborhood here. Take a look at our community amenities, check floor plans and availability, or schedule a tour. You can also call or text 727.478.0770 to learn more about life here.