By Amanda Corbin
In May 2023, Engine House Coffee opened inside the 155-year-old building that once housed the Frankfort Fire Department.
Co-owner Bill Cull, who works the Grand Theatre ticket box across the street, said he “fell in love with the building looking at it from the theatre.”
Bill and his partners purchased the property, used historic preservation tax credits to restore the front of the building, opened the coffee shop and have plans to continue the restoration of the portion of the building that’s still unused.
“It’s a wonderful building and people ought to know what it was,” Bill said.
Working with Spangler-Williamson Architecture and Engineering and an expert in historic brick restoration, Bill’s team repaired and preserved the brickwork on the front of the building, uncovered windows, restored the upper façade — which includes the “Engine House 1868″ lettering — and installed new garage doors in the old engine bays. Work on the interior involved demolition and removal of additions that were made to the building over the years.
Engine House Coffee only takes up about 1,000 square feet of the building, while another 3,000 square feet is still under construction. Plans for the rest of the building include apartments upstairs and possibly a restaurant downstairs next to the coffee shop.
The History
Along with the preservation of the physical building, the story of the building has also been preserved in murals inside the coffee shop that showcases the Frankfort Fire Department and fire chief E.H. “Hickory” Taylor, who lived and worked in the firehouse.
“His life was here,” Bill said, and described how a book called “The Frankfort Fire Department: The Scrapbook of E.H. Taylor,” which he discovered through the Capital City Museum, was like seeing a snapshot of Taylor’s whole life. Among the newspaper clippings that Hickory had saved about major fires and notable events, were obituaries for two of his children — one who died at age 15 months, and a few years later, another passed who away at just five months old.
Black and white photos, newspaper clippings and written text inside three arches in the interior of the building, immortalize the piece of Frankfort’s history. As for the arches themselves, Bill described how horses were brought through them from the stable and into the engine house where they were harnessed to the wagons used for answering emergency calls.
While the history on display provides a unique experience, the atmosphere also has everything else you might want in a coffee shop. Interior Designer Julie Williams incorporated modern updates, comfortable seating and quirky art into the interior design, all of which make the shop a nice place to hang out and get some work done or meet with friends.
The Vision
While no small venture in itself, the preservation of the firehouse and the opening of the coffee shop is part of a larger vision of a growing Frankfort.
“Frankfort was an important place,” Bill said. “But, it has not been a growing town.” He looks at opening the coffee shop as “something to help support the growth of this town in tourism, to do things that are going to help the town grow.” He hopes visitors to Buffalo Trace Distillery, who come from all over the country, will stop at downtown businesses.
The opening of the coffee shop was a group effort that includes operators Jesse and Haleigh Best, who Bill said, “made it what it is now.”
Haleigh said she likes being a part of Frankfort’s growth from a “slightly sleepy town, to one that’s more bustling.” She described the idea of “community, not competition,” where between locals and tourists, there are enough people to support the multiple Frankfort businesses that all have something different to offer.
The Coffee
Self-proclaimed “coffee nerds,” the Bests relocated from Lexington to Frankfort to operate Engine House Coffee where they create what Haleigh calls “a more curated cup of coffee that you can’t get anywhere else.”
They first visited in January.
“We could see ourselves here,” Haleigh said. She described how she enjoys working in the coffee shop with sunlight streaming through the windows and a breeze from the open garage door.
The Bests have been on the coffee scene for several years now and put their experience to work when choosing to offer organic coffees and teas, house-made syrups and locally sourced pastries at Engine House.
Haleigh looks at coming up with unique flavor pairings as a way to exercise her creativity and Jesse has an interest in different methods for making black coffee. The shop offers seasonal flavors in addition to a variety of favorites like caramel and white chocolate.
“It’s fun working with my husband,” Haleigh said, and she noted how customers are often delighted to learn the coffee shop is a mom-and-pop operation. She said they’ve received a warm welcome, new regulars at the shop are becoming friends, and they’re feeling more like part of the community.
Engine House Coffee is located at 307 W. Main St. and is open six days a week. More information, as well as a gallery of historic photos, can be found at enginehouse1868.com.
