As children, sisters Donna Boyles and Rebecca Tebeau never missed an opportunity to help their mother in the kitchen.
Although they were barely tall enough to see over the stove, the pair stood, attentive and ready, to be their mother’s test testers. They were not old enough to help out at first but as they grew, they graduated from bystanders to participants, stirring and sautéing their momma’s recipes to perfection.
Little did they know those small beginnings in the kitchen would be their practice run.
Decades later, the sisters would open Central Station Bakery and Eatery. The building that was once a gas station in the 1920s on Laurel St. in Springfield is now home to the quaint eatery. It is one of the many businesses that has helped revitalize downtown Springfield.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
“I’ve been impressed with the way Springfield has accepted us,” said Boyles.
Boyles would often think about how much fun it would be to sell cookies. Having spent nearly three decades in the real estate industry, she was ready to try something new. “Becky knew I wanted to make a change,” she said. “She said something about this and I was already thinking about having a bakery. I thought Two Smart Cookies in Savannah was doing great. I thought we could do the same.”
So the two set out to make their dream a reality. They purchased the unit in 2017 but renovations and unforeseen hiccups put a damper on their plans to open. Finally, a couple weeks before Thanksgiving Day in 2020, Central Station was open for business.
“People were wanting to eat out and since we're a to-go location, it really worked out,” said Tebeau. “We had good business. We were a new place and that was the one thing that people would go do during the pandemic. They wanted to go out and eat.”
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The eatery is one of Springfield’s oldest buildings. Although they cannot pinpoint when it was first built, items left in the building provide clues as to when the blueprint was drawn up, including a 1933 liquor bottle, which still has part of the tax label on it.
“We can date it from the tin that we took off the roofline that the company imprinted - there's a stamp on the inside which we actually use as part of our walls in the back part of the building,” said Tebeau. “That company went out of business around 1928. Also, we have a picture of the gas station and you can see an old car in there. We found bottles underneath and around the building that date back to the 1900s.”
The sisters were sure to preserve the buildings’ rich history.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
“We repurposed the inside trim and the counter you order at was made from underneath the building,” said Tebeau. “The original door came from the gas station.”
Nana’s Club and the taco salad are among their popular menu items. It is still surreal for the sisters to share their recipes with the community. That success is a feat Tebeau never envisioned.
“You always hope and pray,” said Tebeau. “You put out a plan, you execute it and then you pray that it's accepted and you go from there.”
Each sister brings something unique to the table. The menu was Tebeau’s idea while Boyles’ warm personality makes customers feel at home. Together, the pair keeps hungry bellies in Springfield satisfied.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
“My sister and I have always been in the service business I guess you could say,” said Tebeau. “We got it from my mom. We enjoy it. My sister knows people and she has great memory. If you come in a couple of times, she'll remember who are you, what you drank and so forth. She has a great memory for all that. I just know faces. And it’s just good to see people that you know come in.”
Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: ‘You always hope and pray’: Two sisters are keeping Springfield fed at a historic eatery
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