More History

Roseto Borough encourages you to submit your historical facts and photos to help us accurately archive the past and capture current events. Please e-mail your submissions to info@rosetoborough.org or mail us at Post Office Box 361, Roseto, PA 18013.

We apologize in advance if any historical statements are not completely accurate and we ask for your patience as we research and update this site.

Information obtained from:
HISTORY OF ROSETO, PA. By Ralph Basso
THE TWO ROSETOS By Carla Bianco
THE POWER OF CLAN By Stewart Wolf and John G. Bruhn
THE ROSETO STORY By John G. Bruhn and Stewart Wolf
BOROUGH OF ROSETO 75TH Diamond Jubilee Book
DON’T FORGET TO READ “QUEEN OF THE BIG TIME”
by ADRIANA TRIGIANI
And “ROSETANS” by Ann Marie Ruggiero

Quarry Workers & Mill Workers
Before and after WWII the town saw the slate industry, which had been a major industry, employ fewer men. Small sewing factories began to grow in large numbers providing work for young men and women. The business cycle took its toll on the slate industry and the small sewing factories, leading to the present lack of industry in Roseto.

In the late 1930s and 1940s Garibaldi Avenue was a place of many businesses. The street was lined with a beauty salon, 2 barber shops, a shoemaker shop, tailor shop, 5 eating establishments, a hotel, a place where men met to play Italian card games and socialize, 3 butcher shops, 7 grocery stores, 3 drinking bars, an Ice Cream and Candy store, 2 bakeries, blacksmith shop, and a gift shop.

Today there remain a barber shop, a restaurant, a bakery, and on Dante Street, Ruggiero's Italian Market. All the other places of business are gone.

There is a strong growing need to establish a new industrial base so our small town will not become a place where all our young men and women leave to seek a better place to live while providing for their families. This same trend caused deserted streets in Roseto Valfortore, Italy.
 

 

MARCONI CLUB & REDMEN LODGE
In 1903 the "Marconi Club" was formed. Its mission, as well as the missions of the Redmen Lodge and the Sons of Italy, was to bond relationships between the Roseto Italians and surrounding communities, and to promote better intellectual and moral conditions.
 

Dr. Wolf Books
In the early 1960s, Dr. Stewart Wolf and Dr. John Bruhn began their research studying a unique feature of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Their study was to determine how the effects of family bonds and the strong social values contributed to the low incident of coronary heart disease and sudden death. In spite of the fact that risk factors such as smoking, lack of exercise and high fat diet were found as great as in other communities, the outstanding difference was the family-oriented social structure that controlled the way of life for Rosetans.

Family
Their study also showed that social change and an Americanized system of values and behavior removed the healthy heart that Roseto was noted to have. While younger Rosetans held respect for old-traditions they did little to live by them. Abandonment of old standards led the death rates from heart attack to climb to the levels of surrounding communities.

Gardens
Gardens that were in every back yard providing food in the summer and produce that was canned for meals in the winter are slowly disappearing. Grape vines and arbors that produced succulent and plentiful grapes that were used for the making of wine, grape jelly and juice are gone. The process of making wine: picking the delicious bunches of grapes, crushing and squeezing them, created happy times. The sobering part was the competition of making the best wine in town. Everyone wanted the bragging rights to that title. Families also raised goats, chickens and pigs to supplement their diets.
 

To learn more history about our government, social life, schools, and churches please utilize the buttons at the top right corner of this page.

 

Roseto Borough

164 Garibaldi Avenue

Post Office Box 361

Roseto, PA 18013

610-588-0695

Fax 610-588-1281