| 1/18/2010 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| SIGN OF THE TIMES: Rogers Corner employee Goma Olin makes signs for the Main and West street entrances to the restaurant on Saturday that read, “Today is Rogers last day! Come in and eat!” Olin, who also works at Cafe Dofi and the Downtowner, which have the same owners as Rogers, said she will miss working at Rogers, but that she looks forward to returning once a new restaurant is opened. (Staff photo by Ken Ritchie) |
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The end of an era
Rogers Corner served
final meal on Saturday
Peggy Vlerebome
Courier Staff Writer
Rogers Corner closed Saturday afternoon and is to be transformed into something else. Co-owner Harry Dobbins said Sunday he and business partner Stacey Field have not decided what the next business there will be, except that it will be a restaurant and it will not be Rogers Corner.
They expect to decide in the next couple of months, he said.
The possibilities for the future include moving their Cafe Dofi from West Main Street into the Rogers building, moving Cafe Dofi into the current Downtowner and moving Downtowner into the Rogers building, or Rogers "may be changing just a little bit, but not the same type menu." It might be Rogers-like, but more upscale, he said.
He said he had not heard the rumor that a sports bar was planned, but said it isn't.
Dobbins and Field bought Rogers Corner in May 2007 from Laura and Tony Ratcliff, who had owned it since March 2000.
When the Ratcliffs bought it, they brought back the soda fountain that had had been a main draw when there were secondary schools downtown, basketball tournaments at Brown Gym and families going to the movies together at the Ohio Theatre.
"When we bought it, it was billed as a soda fountain," Dobbins said. "We tried to go with the diner. It just was not working.
"It just wasn't a broad enough appeal ... to break even or make money."
In addition to co-owning Rogers Corner, Cafe Dofi and the Downtowner, Dobbins co-owns with Glenn Perkins a former pizza business at West Main and Cragmont Streets. They have leased it to Pizza Kingdom of North Vernon, which Dobbins said will open Madison Pizza Kingdom in about three weeks.
If Cafe Dofi leaves it current location on West Main Street, Dobbins said, there is a woman ready to lease the space for a restaurant.
During about the next eight weeks, Dobbins said, the Rogers Corner interior will be completely remodeled with "modern bathrooms, modern ceilings, floors and walls," Dobbins said. A bigger hood system to accommodate different and more equipment also will be put in.
Rogers Corner was bustling Saturday. Most of the people there around noon did not know Rogers Corner was closing until they saw the signs on the sidewalk and the door. The signs had been placed earlier in the day, so there was no advance public notice.
The specials on the final day were meatloaf or a hand-breaded cod sandwich, for $5.95. The soups were clam chowder and vegetarian vegetable. Rogers was open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. the last day.
Emogene Konkle was eating a grilled chicken salad sandwich and her sister Edna Murphy was eating a grilled ham salad sandwich.
"We were on our way to a funeral," Konkle said. "We were downtown and decided to stop and get a sandwich. I said, "How about Rogers?'"
At the door, the learned they would be among the last customers.
Mary Lou Halcomb said she ate at Rogers about once a month. On the last day, she was having a vanilla Coke and had just ordered a grilled chicken sandwich "and definitely their potato salad."
Rogers' signature potato salad was made from a century-old recipe, and was its own tradition.
Her daughter, Jennifer Halcomb, was having iced tea and was waiting for her cheese salad sandwich. "I love the cheese salad," she said.
The final diners also included a large group from Cincinnati. For the last three or four years, a group of youths and adults who go to church together at Day Spring Church of God spend a weekend at Clifty Falls State Park.
Angela Hoover and her daughter-in-law, Audrey Hoover, had been to Rogers Corner on previous trips. "It'll be neat next year when we come and see what it's become," Audrey Hoover said.
Janeen Blair, Vickie Smith, Bill Blair and Kim Smith had a table at the back.
"I said, 'Let's go in one last name,'" Janeen Blair said. The waitress is a friend, so they knew Saturday would be the last day.
Vickie Smith said her sister, Sheila Scott, worked at Rogers for about 13 years when it was owned by Judson W. Schmidt. Schmidt and his wife, Mary Jane Schmidt, owned and operated Rogers corner for 43 years until 1993, according to her obituary published in 2003. Her husband died in 1991.
"It's a sad day," Vickie Smith said. "It'll be hard to think it won't be Rogers Corner anymore. My sister made the potato salad when she worked here. I had to have it one more time."
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Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Article comment by:
Barbara Lane Krenke
I rmember going to Rogers when I was quite young. I always had the grilled ham salad and potato salad. My mother, Minnie Lane, also went there a lot. She knew a girl who worked there who gave her the recipe for 'Rogers Potato Salad'. My mother is no longer with us, but we make the potato salad all the time. There are so few familiar places left on Main Street and now another is gone. It is so sad
Posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Article comment by:
Emily Gribble
This makes me really sad. I have been going to Rogers ever since I was a little girl. I'm now in my 20's. My mom and I went often. It was something we truly enjoyed. I was really looking forward to taking my daughter when she was old enough to enjoy it. You can turn it into whatever you want, but it will never be Rogers.
Posted: Monday, January 18, 2010
Article comment by:
Jason Chambers
This is quite sad....you will be missed rogers. Your burgers were terrific.
Posted: Monday, January 18, 2010
Article comment by:
joe steinhardt
In another 6 months you will see more closings and maybe a factory also closing. Joe Steinhardt
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