Scoping Out The Future Home of Reba McEntire’s “Reba’s Place”

Reba McEntire definitely deserves an extra level of respect and admiration for deciding against opening up yet another tourist trap monstrosity on Lower Broadway in Nashville, just like every other big star has done over the last decade. In fact, Garth Brooks just announced he’ll be the latest to open one last week. Instead, the Country Music Hall of Famer is sinking her capital and name recognition into the small town of Atoka, Oklahoma, which is about 16 miles south of her true hometown of Chockie.
To be called Reba’s Place, it will include a restaurant, bar, music venue, and retail store. It will be the home of all things Reba, including many pieces of personal memorabilia from her career. Though Atoka is a town of only 3,000 people and may seem like a strange place to build such an establishment, the town is situated right at the confluence of Federal Highway 75 coming up from Dallas and down from Tulsa, and Federal Highway 69 coming down from Muskogee, which receives a good bit of traffic.
Traveling right through Atoka recently to see the Turnpike Troubadours reunite in Tulsa, I thought I’d stop by to see the property, get a feel for the area, and see just how much work Reba’s camp has ahead of them. After all, the first we ever heard about this, Reba and others had to be rescued from the building by the local fire department after the stairwell gave way, injuring one. Reba ended up crawling out of a 2nd story window, and down a ladder.
Atoka really is the classic Midwestern small town in America, with a hollowed out downtown trying to come back. Though Atoka is at a confluence of multiple thoroughfares, they all bisect the downtown corridor itself, with the McDonald’s and even a Chili’s set up on the side of the highway to take advantage of the traffic rolling through town.
But the old three-story brick Masonic Temple Reba McEntire has purchased is just a couple of blocks from Federal Highway 75, and will certainly attract folks back to downtown, where there are already multiple businesses trying to bring the area back.
The property is still nothing much at the moment, with plywood where windows once were (and sometimes even the plywood missing). But peering inside, you can see they’re hard at work shoring up the building, and behind it is a construction yard where materials and machinery are staged. Along the front windows in a somewhat Winter motif (Reba first announced her intentions in December, 2021) it says, “Welcome Home Reba,” with an artist rendering of what they expect the downtown will look like once Reba’s Place is completed.
Atoka is also in the heart of the Choctaw Nation. The town was founded by the tribe in the 1850s, and is named after one of the tribe’s elders. Reba is working closely with the Choctaw Nation on the project as well.
What Reba McEntire is doing here is the right type of gentrification and renewal. Nothing is getting bulldozed. In fact, an old historic building is being rescued. The other businesses in the area won’t be overshadowed by Reba’s Place, they will benefit from it. You can definitely see country fans and families, truckers and bikers, and just general curiosity seekers stopping in downtown Atoka to see Reba’s Place, having a drink or a bite, and watching some live music while dropping money in the area.
As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of work to do, but it will be really fun to watch as this old relic of a building transforms into a tourist destination and shrine to Reba McEntire. Lower Broadway in Nashville was also once a hollowed out neighborhood, but country music saved it. Hopefully, the same will happen for downtown Atoka, Oklahoma … just without Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line showing up to ruin it once more.





April 10, 2022 @ 12:58 pm
Simply amazing!
April 10, 2022 @ 1:42 pm
I would love to remake those windows like we did on the historical preservation job I am currently finishing, but it’s a bit of a commute! In all seriousness, I love that people are working to preserve these old (by American standards) pieces of history. Hopefully they will find some local craftsmen with combination of skill and madness required to do it right!
April 10, 2022 @ 1:57 pm
What a Great way to remember Your Roots and Pay Back Your early supporters. Smart Location Centered between; Little Rock, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Fort Worth….
This could be the start of a new ” Branson, Mo.”
April 10, 2022 @ 7:16 pm
I love old buildings like that, unfortunately not all get saved. They have done a pretty good job here where I live giving older places new life. They recently made a Greyhound bus station into a nice restaurant with lots of pictures of the old station and a old Nabisco building was turned into apartments but they kept the old water tower on top. The building is actually pretty cool in that it was made on a nontypical corner meaning not 90 degrees. It’s very narrow so the building had to conform to that meaning it started out real narrow and got wider as it went out. Kind of like a v shape. So good for Reba here.
April 10, 2022 @ 8:02 pm
Kind of like the Flatiron Building in New York City?
April 11, 2022 @ 10:53 am
Never been so I can’t say.. I e just kind of an odd look,l but I always thought it was neat. I doubt someone would go to that trouble today , they’d just build someplace else.
April 15, 2022 @ 6:03 pm
Some may say it might just be another Branson but I live in Branson have all my life and this will be very welcome sight just to get away from here . Thanks Reba and good luck
The Brassfield’s
April 10, 2022 @ 4:33 pm
Hope it works out for her and the town, nice to see an old structure like that being repurposed though I know they’ve got a long row to hoe!
April 10, 2022 @ 8:03 pm
I love this!
April 10, 2022 @ 8:57 pm
I LOVE REBA MCENTIRE SHE’S THE BOMB;
April 10, 2022 @ 10:09 pm
This is going to be fantastic! And such a great thing Reba is doing to give back to the people! She is amazing ❤️
April 11, 2022 @ 4:58 am
I’d rather go to Reba’s place in Atoka than Lower Broadway in Nashville. The last time I was in Nashville, it was unbearable. I won’t be going back any time soon.
April 11, 2022 @ 7:55 am
If it was an old Masonic Temple turning it into a commercial property is even more work than it looks like. I’ve been involved in a few refurbishments of Mason buildings and every one has been a weird maze of small and large rooms with narrow passages and what seem like hidden areas or corridors. I imagine they built it that way for their rituals and celebrations but to turn it into something usable pretty much the entire interior has to be gutted. Maybe they’ll keep some of the larger areas intact if they can work it into the new layout. I don’t think Masonic stuff is old enough to be considered historical but it’s definitely a slice of Americana just like country music and it’d be nice if they could preserve some things to highlight that connection. If I ever get out to Oklahoma I’ll have to check it out.
April 11, 2022 @ 8:26 am
The building I am working on was from the 1940’s and is considered historical, we are doing a different thing than say restoration of Notre Dame but we remade the windows basically how they were but we didn’t have the kits they originally used so it was dreadfully confusing basically until we were finished, now we sort of know what we are doing!
April 13, 2022 @ 12:05 pm
The Masonic Temple was built in Atoka in 1915 and placed on the NRHP in 1980.
April 11, 2022 @ 8:07 am
Awesome sauce
April 11, 2022 @ 8:15 am
isn’t this the building that the staircase collapsed and trapped them inside?
April 11, 2022 @ 8:31 am
Yes, it’s the same building, though I wasn’t able to confirm that until I was standing in front of it, pulled up the video of Reba being “rescued,” and saw it was the same place. When they originally announced Reba’s Place, they left that out of the press release. I’m sure they didn’t want to spook people that perhaps Reba had made a bad investment. I couldn’t see much inside through the windows, but basically the whole building is being gutted and redone.
April 11, 2022 @ 6:18 pm
Being here close to Atoka, yes it is the same building! Looking forward to this place & Reba is my Hero-! Love saving old buildings!
April 11, 2022 @ 8:18 am
I might have to “check” it out next time I roll thru Atoka (my youngest granddaughter lives about 15 miles from there, so I drive thru a few times a year).
April 12, 2022 @ 7:55 am
I hope it’s the kind of bar that allows me to bring my own drinks in, because I’d like to drink a nice glass of “Paul Daniels” (my homemade whiskey) in this bar.
April 11, 2022 @ 2:05 pm
Sometimes, God makes time for the righteous to slowdown & get into situations, where people like Reba, has made something good out of being trapped in upstairs building, that she could have a story line, into her book of life as part of her, good & bad days, she sings, about on that stage. This is a way for people to help, that you can just sing out her songs, that help them heal, just she has done with herself. The reason she is so good, at what she does, it comes from a heart, that been down that country trail, that hasn’t always been a bed of roses. She is so genuine & stuck to her roots, to make her 1 of a kind. Speaking of kind, when to have the chance to tbe eye to eye, with her, you can see that beautiful heart, shining deep from within her. Will ❤️her forever. p.s. a hand full the most, couldn’t even keep with????#1
April 13, 2022 @ 11:08 am
I love Reba McEntire! She’s down to earth funny and I love her music! We go through Oklahoma when traveling from SW Missouri to Texas. We always made a point to stop at Johnnys roadside fruit stand on hwy 69 but they are no longer there. Can’t wait to visit when she’s done!
April 12, 2022 @ 3:55 pm
I imagine Garths place will serve a lot of cheese.
April 12, 2022 @ 4:29 pm
You don’t mention the loss of a church for parking…..
April 13, 2022 @ 12:07 pm
I’m so excited that Reba is putting in a business in Atoka, Will be a nice little drive to go there and eat sometimes, I live in Paris,TX. So I’m not that far away. We have eaten at Blake Sheltons Ole’ Red and really enjoyed it. But can’t wait for Reba’s to open.
April 17, 2022 @ 9:01 am
L
September 28, 2022 @ 1:31 pm
When are you opening in Atoka? My family is from there. O’Quinn’s and Sipes I want to fly there, from Cali, for the Big day.