ROVAGNA'S GENERAL STORE
Rovagna's General Store, Photo from the Davis Erhardt Collection
Rovagna's Pond, now the parking lot for the United Artists Movie Theatre in Coram,
Photo Courtesy of Davis Erhardt Collection
From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Oct. 30, 1927
Joseph Rovagna was a native of Genoa Italy. He was educated in an Italian engineering school specializing in engineering. He served in the Italian Navy as an engineer on warships, and made his first journey to the United States on the ship which brought over the Columbus Memorial, which now stands at the circle of 59th street, in Manhattan.
The young engineer was so impressed by America on his first trip that he was determined to emigrate upon the expiration of his enlistment in the Italian Navy, and he has now been in this country 26 years.
Mr. Rovagna tells with considerable glee of his early experiences here. He had plenty of money and after coming to America determined to have a good time. And see something of the country before looking for a job. Eventually, his money nearly all gone, he began casting about for a job in his profession, but there he struck a snag- he learned that he could not get a job as an engineer without a license and he could not get a license because of his ignorance of the English language.. Soon his money was all gone and he was too proud to write home to his family for more.. He got a job as a dishwasher in a New York restaurant. In time he mastered the English language by going to night school, but he never managed to enter his chosen field of engineering. He had formed a liking for the restaurant business and opened a place of his own in the city.. The city did not hold him, however, he liked the country, and its lure brought him to Coram, where he opened a grocery store. The business has prospered under his guidance, and a few years ago a roadside restaurant was made an added feature of it.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - October 20, 1927