Main Street Muskogee lays out 3–5 year strategy, cites $2M private reinvestment in 2024

Courtney Graham, executive director of Main Street Muskogee, presented the organization’s 2024–25 annual report to the Muskogee City Council on June 23, 2025, outlining a new set of transformation strategies and a multi-phase streetscaping plan for the Broadway District.

Graham told the council that the strategies, adopted Aug. 2, 2024 and developed with Main Street America and the Oklahoma Main Street Center, were informed by a community survey of 263 respondents and discussions with local business and building owners. “This will help our organization for the next 3 to 5 years,” she said.

The report said the organization will focus on two main strategies — “preservation and authenticity” and “placemaking” — and pursue four committee-led areas: economic vitality, design, promotion and organization. Graham highlighted grant programs that supported downtown investment, including a business incentive grant with five recipients and a Renew and Rebuild grant with 12 recipients. She said the design committee’s facade grant program totaled $150,000 and leveraged more than $300,000 in total project investment.

On placemaking, Graham described the Broadway District Master Plan as a 10-phase project with an estimated cost of $12.5 million. She said $2.5 million of that figure will be included on a July 8 vote for local funding, and that phases include a Broadway Green at the former Hunt’s department store site and pedestrian alley improvements.

The presentation included plans for pedestrian crosswalk signals with audible features and low‑force buttons, 15 new planting containers, bike racks and trash receptacles; a mural for Broadway Green; and streetscape elements aligned with the Broadway District Master Plan.

Graham reported downtown performance metrics for 2024: more than $2 million in private reinvestment, 2,278 volunteer hours logged by Main Street Muskogee, seven completed building rehabilitations and five new businesses opened in the downtown corridor. She also said the downtown ambassador program collected over 57,000 pounds of trash and used more than 40,000 gallons of water for hand-watering plants in 2024.

Graham thanked council members for support and invited further engagement on grant opportunities and the Broadway master plan. The presentation drew several council acknowledgements and ended without a formal council vote.

The Main Street Muskogee report also noted that the organization reached national accreditation for the first time since joining the Main Street program in 2008 and was recognized at the state capitol with a reinvestment milestone award for $45 million reinvested into downtown since 2008.