Movie star's New Port Richey manse

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 22, 2007

Thomas Meighan, who spent the winters in New Port Richey during the boom years of the 1920s, was one of the leading movie stars of his day. He made more than 80 films beginning in 1914. Most were silent pictures. The headline in the New Port Richey Press of April 15, 1927, reads, "Tom Meighan to Build $40,000 Home at Jasmin Point This November." The home pictured here was completed in 1928. Meighan said he considered New Port Richey his home and that he intended to vote here. He also hoped to make movies in New Port Richey. A 1928 newspaper article reported that the home had 16 rooms. A brochure prepared for the later sale of the home described it as having 13 rooms (4 master bedrooms, 41/2 baths, 3 servants' bedrooms and 3 baths). The property was 4.15 acres, with 683 feet of frontage on the river and 641 feet of road frontage. The home was demolished around 1960, although one of the buildings on the property and the large swimming pool still exist. Meighan died in 1936; he was 57.

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 23:39:47]