Oklahoma Business Owners Revitalize Historic Collinsville Building

Oklahoma business owners are revitalizing an old Collinsville building while preserving pieces of its history.

Owners of T3 Roasters, a local coffee shop, say they are working hard to bring the building back to life.

Co-Owner Gary Tucker says for the past year and a half, he and his wife have worked to revitalize it after it’s sat empty for more than two decades.

The building opened around 1911 as the city meat market and has evolved over the years.

Tucker says while getting the building ready to open, they’ve made historic discoveries along the way. One major find is a Lackawanna Steel Company Beam, which was one of the oldest and largest steel companies during its time of operation from 1840 to 1922.

The Tuckers have also restored the historic bricks inside of the building that were made in the city’s brick plant in the early 19th century.

Tucker says it's discovering things along the way that’s been fascinating to them.

“The fact that we’ve come in and been able to learn so much about not just the building, but the community and the history. Plus we’ve been visiting with some of the members of the community here and listening to their stories. We really have a passion to preserve that and it seems like a lot of that is starting to be lost. There is so many people that don’t know the history of Collinsville,” Tucker said.

Overall, Tucker says they have high hopes for potential growth downtown following the work that’s now underway.

“We would love to spur the similar type of restoration in some of the other buildings.My personal hometown I remember when I was growing up there was somebody that came in and started restoring one of the old buildings there. Of course, it’s something that took 20 years but over the next 20 years you saw everybody notice the potential the buildings had and started investing in that,” said Tucker.

Restoring the front of the building and bringing it back to its original look is the next big phase for T3 Roasters in their renovation effort. Tucker is hopeful they can open up the new coffee shop sometime in late summer or early fall.