Governor signs bill naming Route 283 ‘Colonel Michael Plummer Memorial Highway’

ALBANY, New York (WWNY) - On this Veterans Day, Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation dedicating a portion of state highway to a man who was instrumental in bringing the 10th Mountain Division to Fort Drum.

State Route 283 in Jefferson County has been designated as the “Colonel Michael Plummer Memorial Highway.”

The memorial highway stretches from Route 342 and Fort Drum to the Watertown city limits. The bill was introduced in Albany by State Senator Patty Ritchie and Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush.

Plummer, who passed away in January at the age of 83, was assigned to Fort Drum in December 1984 as the first Chief of Staff of the new 10th Mountain Division which was reactivated on February 3, 1985.

He was instrumental in organizing the new division and setting in motion the construction of more than $1 billion in initial infrastructure to support the new unit at Fort Drum.

Colonel Plummer was active across the north country civilian and military communities.

He’s credited with starting an ‘Adopt-A-Platoon’ program in 1992, in which community members write letters and send packages to deployed soldiers.

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