Jerry’s Supper Club’s transforms into Roma’s Italian Eatery in Downtown Owatonna

OWATONNA, Minn. (KEYC) -

Owatonna is in a period of transition. This building behind me was once a Piggly Wiggly, then turned to Jerry’s, and now its becoming an Italian Restaurant-- Still, the legacy of Jerry’s Supper Club lives on.

Jerry Ganfield, Treasurer of the Steele County Historical Society said “You know it was... you didn’t eat there on your own or for a quick lunch. it was going to be a dining experience.”

Opened by the Cashman family in the early ‘60s, Jerry’s Supper Club brought an authentic dining experience to Owatonna for over 50 years.

The club’s famous mural stood at the center of the restaurant, and all activity flurried around it. Jerry’s closed in 2009 and laid vacant for over a decade. When developers announced the complete remodel of the building, the community came together to make sure the artwork would be saved; its move mostly funded by donors.

Ganfield said “It was a little bit more than first estimated because they had to support that wall in order to take out the wall and then they case encased it and brought it in our front door.”

Now, the century old building’s metamorphosis is nearly complete--

Scott Mohs, President of Mohs Contracting said “Now we’re in that process of rebuilding the new layout of the restaurant back and then we’ll be moving into the finishing stages, you know here in another month or so”

Scott Mohs has pulled back layers of history, revealing its original form.

Mohs said “That was buried underneath the façade that was there and it really brings the building, you know architecture and the visual of the building kind of back to back to what it was when it was originally built.

Mohs has been trusted with the renewal of this entire block of historic buildings.

Mohs said “We should be reusing them and to be able to combine old with new and repurposed things all in the same project really exemplifies a good development done by a great developer.”

Ensuring so many new memories will be made in Owatonna’s old supper club.

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