What started with a mammoth Oak tree in the mining town of Gleeson has sprung new historical significance to the newly refurbished Gleeson Jail.

The jail will have a grand opening meet-and-greet on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tina Miller and John Wiest own the 1910 Gleeson Jail that stands proudly as a part of the history for the town of Gleeson. The jail is a quick turn off High Lonesome and Gleeson Roads about 30 miles east of Tombstone.

“It became a project that kept mushrooming,” Miller said. “I really don’t want a job.”

The renovation process took about a year to complete, she said. In the beginning she had a carpenter build windows and doors to look like they would according to some of the antique photographs they recovered of the jail from a source in Maricopa County. It took four weeks for two local workers to do the plaster work on the interior walls and the concrete finish on the exterior of the building.

“The real interior walls were lime, but plaster will be close enough,” she said.

The floors are the original concrete pads that look new, Miller said. The concrete floors were scrubbed clean and then, using an acid etch technique, they were stained light brown to give a patina feel.

The outside of the jail is still a concrete gray color, which will likely stay that way, she said.

“We recently installed a barbed wire fence around the property to keep a private feel to the place,” she said.

They also are in the process of having the power company install electricity to the building in order to run a well water pump. She doesn’t want the jail to have lights, she said.

Miller and Wiest live in Gleeson where Miller has owned Tombstone Mercantile Co., at 511-B East Allen St., for the last ten years. The store buys and sells antiques and western merchandise.

Wiest, a retired research chemist helps run the shop when he can. He said he came to Tombstone two and a half years ago and never left.

Miller came to Gleeson for family but was working in California with manufacture engineering. Her father was a mining engineer in Chile. That’s where her passion for mining history originates from.

“I drove by and saw the (jail) for-sale sign and called Tina,” Wiest said. “We decided to make a move on it.”

Miller said she always wanted to do something with the jail but was under the impression that it was government owned or that it was in a nearby mining claim.

“I was afraid someone might buy the property and bulldoze it for some reason,” she said.

The previous owners were located in Holland and had bought the property at an auction without even seeing a picture, she said.

Since the renovation, Miller said she has used her expertise in antiques to dress up the inside of the jail with 1910 period collectibles, like a type writer, safe, display guns and an office desk. Most everything in the jail has come from her antiques shop.

They both enjoy receiving calls for information about the jail project. Many are from people who have family in Gleeson or some sort of tie to the jail, Miller said.

“I like meeting new people that come by to visit, it’s a nice place to get away to,” said Wiest.

Miller recalled a story about one evening when she was sitting in the jail reading a book and a young man who was on leave from Afghanistan entered. He was staying at his family’s house down the street and was out on a walk when he saw her in the jail.

The young man said “Ma’am it’s getting kind of late and the crazies are going to be out soon, you should be getting home soon,” Miller said.

She said she replied back “Son, I am one of those crazies.”

The jail dates back to April 1910 when Texas Ranger Wes Cates was a 17-year-old lawman who was embarrassed by having to lock up criminals to an oak tree instead of in a real jail, said Glenn Snow a town historian.

The old Gleeson oak tree jail is a short walk down High Lonesome Road in a wash where the tree has a steel cable infused in its tree trunk. When the bandits were caught the lawmen were shackled to the tree, Snow said.

Miller said they are going to see how well the October grand opening goes and plan for the 100 years celebration of the jail at a later date.