Smithtown FD-Fire at the Soundview Nursing Home on Landing Avenue

January 8, 1969 0400 hours. The Smithtown Fire Department was dispatched to a fire at the Soundview Nursing home, located at the intersection of Landing Avenue and Landing Road in Smithtown, at approximately 0400 hours. Units arrived to find fire in multiple rooms on the upper level and in an area used as employees quarters. The fire was brought under control within 45 minutes and units remained on scene until just after 0600. Chief Melville Mahler was the OIC. 85 members responded to the scene. The 32 patients on the upper floor of the building were relocated to the lower level. The nursing home was built in 1911 by the parents of former Town supervisor Hamilton F. Potter. Mr. Potter lived in the house until 1930 and his mother continued to reside there until 1949 when the property was sold to Soundview. Arthur Kunz Park is now where this nursery was. Smithtown News 1-9-1969