Neighbor Spotlight: Oakmont conversations always a delight for historical society president
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Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, see plumadvanceleader.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.
Joy always comes to the face of Gary Rogers when he talks about his hometown of Oakmont.
“I think the important thing about history is it’s so much more interesting when you can connect with it,” Rogers said. “It still amazes me how many things we turn up in this town.”
Rogers, 63, founded the Oakmont Historical Society in 2008 with Matt Provenza and David Demsey.
It has since grown to 164 members from at least 10 states and features a collection of countless photos, artifacts and other memorabilia. It is located at 628 Allegheny River Blvd. and offers monthly programs at the Oakmont Carnegie Library a few blocks away.
“If you study United States or even world history, you can always find a connection to Oakmont,” Rogers said.
One of those connections can be traced to the Civil War. About 4,500 Pennsylvania volunteers prepared for war at a training camp in the area of what is now the Hulton Bridge.
Rogers takes pride in the society’s collection of items including a price tag machine from G.C. Murphy, a piece of the old Hulton Bridge, scale models from an old visual layout company and a cooler from the former Jakovac’s Market, which was located at what is now the bocce courts next to the borough building along Fifth Street.
“There’s always something new in the history center because we’re always changing things up,” Rogers said. “We don’t want to be one of these history centers where there’s an old bucket and an old horse saddle. We like to have stuff that when you come in you say, ‘I remember that.’”
Rogers learned to love history from his family and speaking with others throughout town.
“It’s always been local history with me,” he said. “Both my mother and my father’s family are old Oakmont families. (We have) deep roots here. I’m actually a ninth-generation descendant of Michael Bright.
“He was the first settler here. He came in 1816. This was a wilderness. Then be purchased this property. Most of the land below the train tracks along the river was his farm. He came and cleared it.”
Oakmont was originally part of what was Plum Township and then Verona before it was incorporated as its own town in 1889. It is less than two square miles.
Childhood
Born and raised in the borough, Rogers grew up in the 1960s and was among the last group of students in the Oakmont School District.
“It was very family-oriented,” Rogers said. “My grandparents (Ernie and Helen King) lived about four doors down from me and all of my cousins lived in town, so we all went to school together. Our cousins were our friends. It seemed people had larger families at the time. We all got together (and) played Little League. The school was small enough that we knew everybody. Verona was always our big rival in all sports and everything. I was in the band.”
Riverview School District was created in 1971 via merger of the Verona and Oakmont school districts in 1971. Rogers graduated from Riverview in 1976.
The historical society has Riverview yearbooks from every year since it was established.
Rogers is the oldest of three children. His siblings are Susan and Raymond Rogers Jr. Their father, Raymond Rogers Sr., is a retired Bell Telephone worker and Oakmont firefighter for 62 years. Their mother, Josephine, was a housewife.
He would go on to earn a communications and business degree from Edinboro State College in 1980.
The school changed its name to Edinboro University a few years later.
Rogers ran a radio station at Edinboro while studying communications. He would play records but did not have a stage name like some radio hosts.
“It was just more of a hobby for me,” he said.
Work and family
Rogers moved to Plum after college and has been a salesman for General Mills, specifically Cheerios, for four decades.
“It’s a very good company,” Rogers said. “It’s the last thing I thought I would do, get a job in sales. We make our plans (for the future). I took a job and here I am 40 years later still doing it.”
He lived in Plum from the mid 1980s to 2014 and moved back to Oakmont with his wife of 40 years, Karen. They have two daughters, Kate and Collette.
Rogers can often be found at the history center. It is open noon to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Visits are also available by appointment.
There is a baseball display set up through August.
Call 412-828-3022 or go to oakmonthistoricalsociety.org for more information.