Hammond Port Authority to rename Hammond Marina after former Mayor Thomas McDermott Sr.

The Hammond Port Authority announced on Friday that it will rename the Hammond Marina the “Thomas M. McDermott, Sr. Hammond Marina” after the city’s former mayor, who served from 1984 to 1992.

McDermott, a Republican and the father of Hammond’s current Democratic Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., championed the $23 million construction of the marina in the late 1980s. The site opened in 1991 and hosted the historic passenger vessel the Milwaukee Clipper until 1996, when the state of Indiana awarded Hammond a casino license and a casino boat took its place.

“If it wasn’t for Mayor Tom Sr.’s vision and wherewithal, the City of Hammond wouldn’t have this beautiful space and economic engine that has helped Hammond compete and thrive over the past 30 years,” Port Authority Director Milan Kruszynski said in a statement.

Mayor McDermott Jr. lauded the renaming as a fitting tribute to his father’s legacy.

“Whenever I’m at the marina I always think about what my dad did up here,” he said. “All the economic development dollars we have enjoyed as a city, in the hundreds of millions of dollars, wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have the casino and marina. We’ve got my dad to thank for that and I think renaming the marina is a fitting tribute.”

A rededication ceremony will be held at the marina on Oct. 13 at 3 p.m.

adalton@chicagotribune.com