Mike Rich, as a lifelong resident of Oyster Bay, is interested in the revitalization of the hamlet. He attended the weekend of events when Dan Burden's Walkable Communities, Inc. was brought here by the Oyster Bay Main Street Association. At their Oct. 25 meeting he announced his interest in seeing a statue of Theodore Roosevelt placed at the entrance to Oyster Bay in the triangle area that today houses the Busy Bee.

He has been in contact with Phimister Proctor Church, director of the A. Phimister Proctor Museum in Poulsbo, WA. Mr. Church is willing to have an original casting made of a statue of Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider in their collection. They have the original monumental plaster of the statue called Roughrider.

Mr. Rich said the sculptor used TR's actual uniform in the design process, that Edith and Kermit Roosevelt found after rummaging through family trunks.

The cost of the casting of a bronze of A. Phimister Proctor's Roughrider would cost $400,000 delivered to Oyster Bay. The price does not include any site preparation such as a pedestal or the mounting of the statue on the pedestal.

To evaluate the cost, Mr. Rich said, "I know a grandfather who donated a bronze in Central Park 100 years ago for $200,000."

Mr. Rich also offered another way to go about creating a TR statue for Oyster Bay. "We could do an original piece," he said. "The plus of an on-site creation is local involvement. It could take six to eight months. I spoke to Island Properties, they own the Commander Oil office. They are upstairs and the work could take place downstairs. They could put up bleachers and school children and seniors could watch the process as the statue is created. We could videotape it to show the whole creation of a commissioned piece which would be one-of-a-kind. Children could say years later, my parents brought me down to see it as the bronze statue was made. Either way, it would give us a main entrance into town with a statue of TR on a horse."

Making a copy of the Proctor statue would add a historic note since the sculptor knew TR. They met at the 1893 World's Fair. The president commissioned him to carve the buffalo heads for the White House's State Dining Room fireplace. His panther became an emblem for the Roosevelt administration.

Mr. Proctor received the commission for the statue from a Portland doctor, Henry Waldo Coe, who visited Proctor's studio in New York in 1920, when he was looking for the right sculptor to create a monumental equestrian portrait of TR after the president's death in 1919. That statue was dedicated on Nov. 11, 1922.

A second monument was made for Minot, ND, near the ranch Mr. Coe had owned as a young man - where he had first befriended Roosevelt back in the early 1880s. He also donated two smaller versions of the statue, each over 50 inches high to Depot Park at the Northern Pacific Station in Mandan, ND and to the Roosevelt Memorial Museum - TR's birthplace, in New York City. He also gave a full sized plaster cast to the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck.

Mr. Coe refused requests for the statue to be made for Philadelphia's Fairmont Park and New York's Central Park.

Mr. Proctor was quoted as saying of his intention in making the statue: "I wanted to give the world... the impression of Roosevelt as I knew him --- as, indeed, I always think of him. I most admired his fearlessness, his courage, and the energy always waiting to spring into action. I never thought of him as a man of hasty, ill-considered action. All his exuberance, all his restlessness, was only the surface that covered a quiet dignity and reserve. The popular idea of him is that he never was in repose. I wanted to show him as he appeared to me, with all his magnificent energy held in check."

The above quote is from a scholarly book being written by Peter Hassrick in conjunction with a scheduled exhibition by the Amon Carter Museum. It includes information on the monumental plaster owned by the Proctor Museum. The plaster head and torso of Teddy and the plaster horse head will be included in the exhibition that will travel to various venues throughout the United States. "This would certainly add to the interest and public exposure to this monumental bronze statue," said Mr. Church, in a letter to Mr. Rich.

Mr. Rich is a friend of Gregory Glasson, the man who did the TR bust in front of Town Hall to celebrate the 125th birthday of the 26th president. He would be a good candidate for creating an original statue for Oyster Bay.

"In 1999 Mr. Glasson created a statue of a horse originally designed by Leonardo DaVinci for the center of Milan. It was designed on paper by DaVinci. He had the clay pretty much completed but a war broke out and they shot arrows at the sculpture, ruining it. But the drawings were preserved and Greg Glasson's company, Tallix Fine Arts Foundry in Beacon, NY, recreated the statue. The 24 ft. Leonardo DaVinci horse was a $3 to 4 million project," he said.

"So, there are different ways to look at the concept," he said. Mr. Rich worked with Island Properties in arranging the TR license plates for New York State.

He did it with help in the form of funding from Island Properties. "Island Properties is aware of both proposals," he said.

"The bottom line with me is to give the statue of TR to Oyster Bay. The TR license plate goes with hometown pride of living in Oyster Bay. It is available to everyone in New York State.

"Where the Empire State is written, it will say Oyster Bay and the picture of TR will be on the left."

Mr. Rich said, "You have to give people interest to come to Oyster Bay."

When told that not everyone in Oyster Bay sees a statue of the president as needed, to take the place of a quirky/original store that currently serves the public well, and already has a great hometown feeling, Mr. Rich had an answer.

He said of TR: "When people go to Mt. Rushmore, there are no names indicating who the presidents are. Everyone knows who they are. There is no signage because they are so hugely well-known throughout the world. When you have worldwide recognition, what could be better for Oyster Bay.

"When Mt. Rushmore needs a sign it won't be for Teddy Roosevelt," he said.