The City of Durant, Durant Area Chamber of Commerce and Durant Main Street celebrated the recent refurbishment of the Market Square Cafe building on North First Avenue last week with a ribbon cutting.
The building was constructed in 1915 or earlier, and Durant almost lost it after the city council voted in January 1995 to demolish it.
The late Robert Webb stepped in and after a successful petition drive, convinced the council to change its mind on the demolition.
According to Durant Democrat articles at the time, Webb’s family once had a Mexican restaurant there and Webb believed the small building held enough memories for Durant residents to preserve.
“I think it’s a landmark, and evidently, I’ve got 1,200 people where who feel the same way,” Webb told the council in 1995 after presenting the petition. “Our landmarks are getting scarce, and I’d like to see us fix this one up and save it for the people of Durant.”
The Market Square Cafe was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Almost 31 years later, the building was restored under the direction of Zach Walter who works for Gabbart Ventures.
Durant Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Kara Byrd congratulated the city, Durant Main Street and Teddy Gabbart and his staff for making this vision come true.
“It’s really truly an honor to be here with you all today,” Byrd said.
Mayor Martin Tucker said, “Today, we’re going to celebrate what happens when a community comes together for a shared vision to preserve what makes Durant unique and to invest in our downtown and to create spaces that bring people together and this space obviously does.”
He thanked Durant Main Street for leading the renovation of the historic Market Square Cafe.
“The downtown revitalization takes dedication as you know,” Tucker said. “It takes coordination and a lot of hard work, a little bit of money and Durant Main Street has delivered with care and with pride and thank you for that.”
Tucker also recognized Durant Main Street Director Stephanie Swicker for her leadership and commitment to historic preservation and her belief in what the downtown can be.
“Your work and the work of your board, your volunteers and partners, all of that work shows up in the details we see here today and then the momentum that we’re building across our community,” Tucker said. “I also want to thank Kara, who’s already spoken, our Durant Area Chamber of Commerce for supporting as well and continuing to champion local businesses and community growth.”
Tucker also thanked the city council and staff, partners, contractors and everyone who played a role in making the renovation happen.
“These projects don’t happen without a lot of teamwork,” Tucker said.
Tucker then read from Durant Democrat newspapers clippings about how Webb saved the building.
“We’re thankful for people like Mr. Webb who really stepped up to volunteer to help keep this building here for us,” Tucker said.
According to Tucker, the space at Market Square brings people together such as when the fall concert series are held here.
Lisa Thompson, who is the senior program officer with Main Street America, visited Durant from Kentucky.
“In my role, I get to travel all around the country and visit our Main Street communities and it is such a pleasure to be here today,” Thompson said. “I’m here working on behalf of the Oklahoma Main Street Center to help the Main Street program work on an economic development strategy for downtown.
“I also was really lucky in my role at the state historic preservation office in Kentucky to manage the national register program, so I know that the vision that Mr. Webb had about saving this building and what’s it’s going to do and the story that it tells about Durant is so special. It also is a part of what the Main Street program is about. We were founded by the national trust in our historic assets and those stories of the people, the places, the buildings that are in our community really sort of reflect the values that you all have today and so I’m grateful that it’s listed on the National Register, that your community saw the importance of preserving and protecting it so that it can be here for the next generation.”
Swicker said, “I just want to say how special it is that our community has unique assets that we hold on to that we tell our children about and it’s just been an honor to be a part of this community and to be able to be able to be attached to this project and to serve the historic district.”
Walter said the building was in “desperate need of love,” and his crew exposed all the brick covered by paneling on the inside, repaired the flooring and windows, and new electricity was added. A copper ceiling also was installed.
“I think the National Historic Register would be very proud,” Walter said. “It’s really beautiful.”
Awakened Misfits Thrift store donated an old photo of Market Square that shows the cafe during the 1920s to be displayed inside.
“This picture came in from a local family here in Durant,” said John Ryan Heflin, owner. “It’s a very unique thing. We heard about this event from Lisa Jensen, and we figured this would be a great moment to utilize this.”
