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Paradise Post 79

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                                         History of Paradise Post 79
 
By the mid-1920's, posts were springing up all over the United States, and it spread to a small town in Florida incorporated as a city in 1925, New Port Richey.

The first temporary commander was elected in 1927, Leland C.Poole, a navy veteran. The permanent charter was signed on July 18, 1930.

Mr. Poole later joined the Coast Guard in WW II as a Lt. Commander. He returned to be an active member  in the post after WW II.

In June 1991, guest speaker  Glenn Dill,local historian for Pasco County said he researched the reason the post is named Paradise Post . He found that the city of New Port Richey was previously called Paradise, The city of Port Richey incorporated, therefore, New Port Richey took on a similar name.

The post newsletter is called the  "Paradise Parade." Now members know why the name was chosen.

Back in 1930, Florida was in the midst of the famed depression, and tourists were not coming. It had homes on the Pithlachascottee river owned by movie stars of the twenties. They moved out to Hollywood, California and the area fell back into being a sleepy fishing village.The post stayed together, but it was not until after WW II that the town started to increase with low-income families, who saw it had less expensive housing then that of Pinellas County. It was not until late 1970's that the houses in Holiday(South of New Port Richey, but in Pasco County) had their mail separated from Tarpon Springs (in Pinellas County).

In 1946, Leland Poole comes to the forefront of a plan to erect a memorial to honor the veterans of WW I and WW II. The city agreed to donate a portion of land at Orange Lake and the monument was dedicated by the post and city later that year. By 1986, the monument was in desperate decay and the Post appointed Past Commander Mario Battista as chairman  to work on this project. The monument was face lifted and rededicated  with a new bronze plaque applied  commemorating veterans of all wars, including the Korean War, Vietnam and all conflicts since. Also a lighted star was placed on top of the monument.

The first home was on Main Street, a former house on what is now Grand Boulevard. During WW II, canning was done in the kitchen of the small post home, as well as area women making garments and rolling bandages to go overseas. This Post home burned up in 1966, and the land was sold to the City of New Port Richey as the city hall was directly across and they needed more parking.