Porter Residents Excited For Main Street Improvements

To put Porter on the map for more than its peaches, for the last three years the mayor and county commissioners dug in to set aside differences to tear down the old and bring in the new.

Monday, May 5th 2014, 7:55 pm

By: News On 6


The town best known for its peach festival is trying to make a comeback. Wagoner County Commissioners and Porter's mayor have teamed up to get dilapidated buildings on Main Street torn down.

The $48,000 demolition started Monday, as they are working hard to attract new business to Porter.

What used to be Mad Cow Bar and Grill is now just one of several locations that is going to be torn down on Main Street. Folks in Porter say it's bittersweet, but they are making room for progress.

Porter resident, Julie Dickey, said, "Progress. We need progress for this town to grow. If we don't do something now nothing will ever happen here."

To put Porter on the map for more than its peaches, for the last three years the mayor and county commissioners dug in to set aside differences to tear down the old and bring in the new.

Porter Mayor, Richard Keck, said, "We bumped heads. We've got everything cleared out, we know what each other's thinking, how each other work. What we have our sight set on is growth of the town."

Officials are still being tight lipped about what stores will revitalize Main Street, but, everyone is guessing and suggesting.

"Dollar General. That's the best thing that could happen here," Dickey said.

"Dream comes true, Braum's Ice Cream for me," laughed Keck. "We hope for a retail outlet here at some time. We also, we don't have a grocery store here in Porter."

The nearest grocery store is more than a 20 minute drive, and although the demolition is a sign of progress, saying goodbye to the buildings that housed history is hard.

Porter resident Debbie Friend, said, "It's sad really I mean sad bad as this all looks it was painting red brick. As junky as it looks we have had a lot of fun in here."

The mayor said provided we have good weather, the demolition should be done in two weeks. They are still working out the final details of what will be on Main Street, but they hope folks will have a place to shop by the end of the year.

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