59 South Ocean Avenue
Rink/Lyceum, G.G. Roe Block - 1905
59 South Ocean Avenue (Dollar General) was the site of the Clinton Roller Skating Rink built in 1885 when the national roller skating craze came to Patchogue. Soon the skating fad died and owner Gillette Gelston Roe converted the rink to a Lyceum, a venue for entertainment, social and political meetings. Later the Rink/Lyceum was turned 90 degrees to create a row of street front stores. “Gilly” Roe then added more stores on adjacent parcels, all to become known as the G.G. Roe Block.
In 1888, new stores in the former Rink/Lyceum included men’s and women’s “furnishings”, variety store, liquor store and furniture store. The second floor contained attorney, insurance, real estate and surveying offices. In 1928, investors from Far Rockaway bought the G.G. Roe Block. The new owners demolished its 226 feet of two and three-story structures, leaving one-story storefronts to be filled by national chain stores. By 1943, Jay’s Cotton Shop, Cannon Shoe, Ruby Lane, S.S. Kresge 5 & 10 (becoming Kmart in 1977), J.C. Penney, Montauk Drug, Miles Shoes and W.T. Grant were located in the G. G. Roe Block.