Roe Alley & Terry Street Parking Lot were an entrance and home of Justus Roe & Sons Steel Tape Manufacturing Plant. Justus Roe was Gilly Roe’s older brother, both sons of the 2nd Austin Roe mentioned on this tour. Justus began experimenting with his new tape measure at today’s O’Neill’s Exchange. By 1885, his shop was located in the still standing Italianate at 18-24 East Main Street. By 1900 the Roe Steel Tape Plant was in today’s parking lot. The first of two buildings was 103 feet long to produce 100 foot long steel tape measures. The steel tape factory’s operations were moved to River Avenue in 1960.

A dressmaking factory occupied one of the buildings for a time. A blacksmith shop and stables were also here. A fire destroyed a row of houses along Terry Street before it became this parking lot.

Businesses moved around Patchogue to different locations for better rents, more suitable accommodations or advantageous locations. The Patchogue Advance welcomed and announced newcomers arriving to manage stores, restaurants, boarding houses and hotels, during the golden age of tourism on Long Island, 1880-1930.

For more research, search for a name or Patchogue street address in the Patchogue Advance, 1927-1961, and Long Island Advance, 1961-1979, online at http://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org.