First steps toward new home for Oyster Bay's TR statue

After five years in a somewhat obscure temporary location in Oyster Bay that wasn't exactly presidential, a bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt was lifted by a crane Friday to begin a transition to the permanent home its supporters always envisioned.

After a touchup at a nearby factory, the statue will be placed as the centerpiece of a new park being created on a triangle of land across the street from the temporary site, at the gateway to the hamlet.

The committee that arranged for creation of the statue always wanted it on the triangle but the land was not initially available. So they placed it in front of the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich at Route 106 and Berry Hill Road in 2005.

Early Friday, the Rough Rider's horse was wrapped in moving blankets and lifting straps were wrapped around its belly. After workers used jackhammers to free the pins securing the statue's base from the concrete foundation, a crane hauled the 2 1/2-ton statue high into the air, swung it over power lines as traffic slowed and residents took pictures, and deposited it on truck.

Supporters have always envisioned the Roosevelt statue as part of a grand entrance to the hamlet where Roosevelt was a large presence from 1885 until his death in 1919. The statue is a copy of one made in Portland, Ore.

"It's going to be a spectacular entrance to the hamlet," John Hammond, the Oyster Bay town historian and a member of the statue committee, said after the relocation Friday. "After eight or nine years of working on this project, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

The Oyster Bay town board spent $473,000 in 2008 to buy the triangle from developer and Islanders owner Charles Wang. It spent another $581,000 to bury lightpoles on the land, move traffic poles and resurface the property, Deputy Supervisor Len Genova said.

Once completed, the triangle will also have a plaque and five trees. Each tree will represent an Oyster Bay resident killed during World War I, including Quentin Roosevelt, a son of the former president.

"I wish it had happened earlier," statue committee member Michael Rich said of the relocation. He noted that several key original committee members have died since the project began.

But he said they would have been pleased that "it's finally on its way."