MK&T Building

MK&T Building. . Cobbler Charlie Ghiglieri, an Italian immigrant, started his shoe repair business in the second floor of a wooden building. His business prospered and, in 1910, he built this brick building with street level shops and upper level apartments., Charlie called his shop 'The MK&T Shoe Shop. The upstairs had two apartments for the use of railroad personnel who had to lay over in McAlester. The depot for the MK&T Railroad (called 'The KATY') is located one block north behind J.J. McAlester's Mercantile., In 1934 a fire at McAndrew's Drug Store at the southeast corner of Main and Krebs Street spread across the street to a barber shop adjacent to Ghiglieri's. The fire then spread to the Ghiglieri building. Mrs. Essex' Beauty Parlor, located on the second floor, was saved when the equipment was thrown out into the street. The building suffered fire and heavy water damage, but was rebuilt and continued to be a busy cobbler's shop. After Charlie Ghigleri's death the business was run by his son, Pete Ghiglieri, who had worked in the shop since returning from service in the US Navy during World War II., The building to the south of this one was once a silent movie theater and later, in 1935, housed the businesses of husband and wife, Bill and Thelma Drumb, his auto repair shop on one side and her beauty parlor on the other. They lived in the apartments upstairs, a common arrangement during those years.