Oyster Bay celebrates Snouder's Corner Drug Store preservation with historical marker

A building that was a communications hub for President Theodore Roosevelt received a historical marker on Wednesday, commemorating an Oyster Bay landmark over a century and a half old and a more recent effort to spare the structure from demolition.

Snouder's Corner Drug Store opened in 1884 and became Oyster Bay’s longest running storefront by the time it closed in 2010. The building, at the intersection of West Main and South Streets, housed Oyster Bay’s first telephone, which Roosevelt used.

Its soda machine made it “a hub of the village,” according to Judy Hubbard Colwell, 85, of Oyster Bay. She said “all of the kids hung out here. … It was a very central, happy, social, happy, fun place to be.”

But the threat of demolition loomed until roughly five years ago. Developer Tim Lee bought the site, restored it, and a French restaurant opened there in April — part of a widespread preservation effort that involved a coalition of civic groups and local officials.

On Wednesday, the town unveiled a new historical plaque at the site that details the building’s history and hosted a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the new restaurant, a symbolic conclusion to the yearslong push to save the site.

“It’s been a long road,” said Lee, the owner of TML Builders and Lee Land Development. “The previous owner of this building wanted to tear down this building. … After five years, we saved it.”

The French restaurant, called L’Etoile, is run by Stellina Hospitality Group. It can seat about 80 people and serves food ranging from duck to tuna tartare, Newsday has reported.

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino on Wednesday praised Lee, Stellina and the other groups that contributed to the preservation effort, which include the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Oyster Bay Main Street Association.

“There are so many people who embrace progress by killing the past. You want a beautiful building? Let’s knock down the old and build brand-new,” Saladino said. “They recognize that progress in a historical community like Oyster Bay means building on our history, using that as an economic driver for prosperity.”

For Colwell, Snouder’s existence is deeply intertwined with her own.

She told Newsday her father began working at Snouder's after he lost his job during the Great Depression, which meant her parents could afford “another baby.”

“That’s me. So, that’s the beginning of why it’s important to me,” she said. “I’m thrilled with what’s happened. ... My whole family is.”