Three Waves:The Story of Lake Ronkonkoma

Three Waves: The Story of Lake Ronkonkoma
by Ann Farnum Curtis

• Teaching school was not the easiest job in the world. Sam Hawkins who had a teaching post in East Marian decided to give up teaching and open a general store in Lake Grove. The only store in the community belonging to C. L. Smith had recently burned down. Sam built his store on the corner of Hawkins Avenue and Moriches road in 1892 near where the old store had been.
• At the time, the location seemed to be a good one. Nearby on Moriches Road was a small building which served as the Lake Grove Post Office. Down the street on Moriches Road was the blacksmith shop operated by Charles Thorne. Across the street from the blacksmith shop, George Gould was doing a thriving business repairing wagons as the local wheelwright.
• Money in town was scarce, however, and Sam had to supplement his income from the store by other means. He carted gravel and sand and worked at gathering ice in the winter.
• The population center shifted from Lake Grove southward, and eight years later Willis Hallock opened a second store on the corner of Portion Road and Hawkins Avenue in 1899. This store was taken over by Emmett Coleman and later by Agnew and Taylor. It was to be the nucleus around which the town of Lake Ronkonkoma was formed. For a number of years this store which became the Lake Ronkonkoma Post Office stood all alone on the corner. Hawkins Avenue was a narrow dirt road from Portion Road to the station at that time.
• The story of James Agnew is an interesting one. Mr. Agnew was a Presbyterian from the north of Ireland where he had run a grocery store. In 1912 he came to America to bury his brother who had been a prospector in Butte, Montana.
• In New York he met and married Mary Taylor. At first he went to work in a warehouse but soon discovered that only the lowest paid and most menial work was open to immigrants, especially Irish ones. On the advice of a friend he saved his money and bought a taxi cab. From the money he made 'hacking', he paid for the cab and saved up several thousand dollars.
• In 1914 a fare named Henry Glensman wanted a ride to Lake Ronkonkoma. (Henry was the son of the owner of a tavern and hunting lodge in town known as Hunters Home). While Mr. Agnew was here, he learned that Mr. Coleman was selling the general store. He and his brother-in-law Ike Taylor bought the store and took over the post office. The store became known as Agnew and Taylor.

Lake Ronkonkoma, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York