Port Richey is older than New Port Richey, and everyone gets that backwards. Aaron M. Richey settled near the mouth of the Pithlachascotee River in 1883, moving down from St. Joseph, Missouri, and opened a post office in his own home on July 9, 1884 — three decades before “New Port Richey” existed as a name anywhere.
The city that had to defend its name
New Port Richey incorporated first, in 1924, and effectively borrowed the older settlement’s name to do it. Port Richey didn’t incorporate as its own municipality until 1925 — explicitly in response to its younger neighbor beating it to city status. Two Richeys, one river, and the older one had to formalize itself defensively just to keep the distinction clear. It’s an unusual origin story: most Florida towns fight over who gets a name first, not who gets to keep an existing one.
Johnny Cash lived here
From 1979 until 2002, Johnny Cash owned a home along the Pithlachascotee River in Port Richey. Not New Port Richey — Port Richey, the smaller, older, less-discussed half of the pair. It’s the kind of fact that doesn’t get repeated much locally, mostly because it’s easy to mix up which Richey is which.
On the water
The river is still the reason to be here. Charter boats out of Port Richey run out toward the Gulf flats for redfish, snook and trout, the same water Richey settled next to in 1883 and Cash lived along a century later.
Good to know
Port Richey is a separately incorporated city in western Pasco County, distinct from New Port Richey next door. The 2020 census counted 3,052 residents. Downtown sits along the Pithlachascotee River, the same river both Richeys are named for.
For the rest of the county, there’s what’s on across Pasco this August, and next door, the story of how New Port Richey almost became Hollywood’s winter home.
Photo: DanTD, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.