Port Washington North Mayor Bob Weitzner presented at Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting the finalized informational sign that will be installed at Robert H. Dayton Park.
The sign commemorates the life of Capt. Robert H. Dayton and the history of the Port Washington Fire Department.
Dayton was a volunteer firefighter with the Flower Hill Hose Co. 1 who was killed when leading a search and rescue team during a fire at 165 Main St. in Port Washington on Nov. 26, 1988.
The sign also pays tribute to five other firefighters and one police officer who have died in the line of duty in Port Washington.
“A lot of this information came from our soon-to-be Eagle Scout, Gordon Schaub, putting together a lot of this material,” Weitzner said.
Schaub, along with the help of his fellow scouts from Port Washington’s Boy Scout Troop 7, spearheaded the project to restore the park, which was rededicated to Dayton on Dec. 2.
Schaub said in his speech at the dedication ceremony that he chose to rehabilitate the park as his Eagle Scout project after experiencing the aid of the Port Washington volunteer firefighters first-hand.
Two years ago on the night after Christmas, Port Washington firefighters were called to his home to extinguish a fire.
“My family will be forever grateful to the firefighters who rushed to the scene of our house fire,” he said.
Schaub said that while he may not have known Dayton personally, he feels as if he came to know him from working on this project.
“I know that without hesitation, when the fire alarm rang out 30 years ago, he answered that call in service of his community,” he said.
The village commissioned Fossil Industries to create the sign, Weitzner said.
It is expected to be installed in Robert H. Dayton Park in February.
A plaque honoring Dayton was also restored in the park.
Schaub and Boy Scout Troop 7 raised the money for the informational sign and the restoration of the plaque.
“That check was given to us last week,” Weitzner said. “It was quite a remarkable effort.”
Weitzner apologized for the park having been “somehow forgotten and that will no longer be so in eternity.”
