Humpty Dumpty Children's Center

Printed advertisement from the 1980 GTE phone book
Requested by reader Jon Stewart (no, not that one) comes an ad for the late Humpty Dumpty Children's Center. Located at 3406 South College Avenue and opened in 1961 as the first local commercial daycare by Virginia Jones, Humpty Dumpty operated until the mid-1980s.¹

This post was delisted from the Index for a few years because it was confusing as to what buildings were used for the daycare. At the time of this article's writing, 3404 S. College Avenue, a long-defunct gas station serving as "The Guitar Studio" was in front of 3406-3408's buildings, with 3406 sharing 3404-3406. Complicating this was a 1980 directory listing 3404A as the home of Larry Jones. I've just decided to cover 3404 at a later date; but 3406 served as not just Humpty Dumpty but also daughter Jan Jones Hammond's² business, La Petite Academy of Dance. La Petite continued to operate after Humpty Dumpty's demise with the daycare portion leased as Kids Kampus Learning Center in December 1989. This went under a few different names including Heaven Sent (c. 1993) and Bright Beginnings (c. 1996), with the last reference for La Petite Academy of Dance somewhere around this point (at least using this address). Around 2001 the 3408 address began to be used, with Brazos Valley Montessori opening in 2001, after briefly serving as the daycare component of Covenant Presbyterian Church during their time of transit, before moving to their current campus at Edelweiss and Rock Prairie but after departing Northgate. I can't remember when Brazos Valley Montessori closed, I think it was around 2010-2011, not too long after Larry Jones passed away in 2009. In 2014 the Jones family sold the land, under the name "Humpty 3406 LLC", despite the fact that Humpty Dumpty had been gone for nearly 30 years. In the early 2020s the abandoned (or at least underused) buildings were demolished for an expansion of Carney's Pub next door. Street View link can be seen here.

1. Evidence for this is that when Ms. Jones passed away in 2003 (combined with "since 1961" and "25 years", one can assume Humpty Dumpty closed in 1986, though when redoing this post it looks like it closed in very early 1987. Pretty close!
2. Later ads and Virginia Jones' obituary just refer to her as Jan Jones. Probably divorced at some point.
UPDATE 03-09-2026: Post updated to split off 3404 and fix other stuff. It appears that the buildings date back to the 1960s.

Southwest Parkway Wendy's

Picture from August 2019
Despite my ambitions, the new "Return to Texas Avenue" series isn't going too well, partly since I already made many of the more interesting posts years ago, leaving a collection of odds and ends including photos from over five years ago. This is in contrast to the start of the Harvey Road series, in which all the photos were taken at the same time and in close succession, giving about half a dozen new posts clustered together with a bit of a story behind them.

The Wendy's on 202 Southwest Parkway East was built in 1984 after the previous Wendy's in town was opened (3216 Texas Avenue South in Bryan, which was built in 1978 but closed for the last 15 years or so) and I don't think this location ever had a salad bar, though I could be wrong. I don't remember one ever being there, and I don't think I ever (if rarely) ate here after a newer location opened much closer by to where I lived.

Additionally, the sign has the newer logo (which is not on the restaurant itself) partially due to the fact that a storm wrecked the old sign with the signage being replaced with the newer one.

Future attention on the blog will be paid to posts currently off the Index, which will return in updated forms.

Copy Corner and Company

Why is the building two-toned? It's a good question that won't be answered.
Across from Brazos Square is 2307 Texas Avenue. Built in the early 2000s, seemingly as a refuge for displaced Redmond Terrace tenants, it features a Kolache Rolf's, Copy Corner, and Texas AggieLand Bookstore. Not much has gone on here recently tenant-wise with the exception of Bike Barn, which opened in July 2015 after the bookstore closed about a year or two prior.

The three tenants also feature entrances to one another near the exits, so you could go from Kolache Rolf's over to Copy Corner (provided both were open at the same time) without leaving the building. Additionally, Copy Corner has an upper level, though it is just for employees.

Prior to the construction of the building there was a Quicker Sticker, which had been there since 1988, and sub-leased the building, with one such tenant being Home Brewers Supply (1994-1998). Behind it was a driveway that connected to Quicker Sticker also led out to about three houses beyond it (presumably with Texas Avenue addresses). The back part of this driveway continued to exist after the new building was built, but after the last house was torn down around 2015 most of the space was redeveloped as The Villaggio Condominiums, accessed from behind the Quality Suites and featuring Brentwood addresses.

Oddly enough, despite remembering a lot of Texas Avenue from New Main to Brothers in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I don't remember the Quicker Sticker at all.

UPDATE 01-01-2021: Made a small update where I accidentally put "brewing company" instead of the homebrew store that was there.
UPDATE 09-20-2021: Added name of said homebrew store, clarified regarding the townhomes. Further updates to this entry are coming.
UPDATE 02-18-2022: In December 2021, Bike Barn was acquired by Trek and rebranded.
UPDATE 07-08-2023: As of July 6, 2023 TexAgs has reported Kolache Rolf's has permanently closed.
UPDATE 02-01-2025: In late 2023 What's the Buzz Coffee opened What's the Buzz Bakery, which offers an expanded menu than what Rolf's had to offer and is open for lunch.

Brazos Square

Brazos Square's modest signage, picture by author, January 2020 (as with other photos in this page)
Moving on from the Kettle, the next stop is Brazos Square at the southwest corner of Manuel Drive and Texas Avenue, and once again, many places between it and the Kettle have been covered. Both Park Place Plaza and Parkway Square (newly updated to account for College Depot's replacement), as well as NailSpa, the old Pelican's Wharf. Even Drew's Car Wash was mentioned last year, and I never imagined covering that had it not been for a hamburger restaurant that previously occupied the spot. Down the road from that is currently BCS Tires & Lifts. And of course, the Walgreens at Brentwood and Texas, or more accurately what was there before.

The sleepy Brazos Square shopping center was built in 1984 (according to Brazos CAD) but tenants were here as early as 1983. Despite promising exterior renovations, the shopping center has not yet seen anything. Unfortunately, getting information on old tenants on older tenants is difficult, like how ads for old businesses in Culpepper Plaza never mention addresses. It must have been all suite numbers, because some of the oldest businesses I've stumbled across including Toys Plus or PrioriTEAS all have 2206 as the address.

The pawn shop isn't pictured in this set.

2232 - College Station Pawn Shop. As mentioned in the Confucius Chinese Cuisine article, this was (back in the 1990s) Imperial Chinese Restaurant (not related to the place out on the bypass), which outlasted Confucius. The pawn shop was next door, and moved around 2002 after it and Confucius got torn down for the Walgreens. When the pawn shop's "new" building (at 2305 Texas) was torn down around 2006 for a new The Bank & Trust, the pawn shop moved back here, just one place down from its original location. The address is also shared with The Vapor Cave next door, which in the late 2000s and early 2010s was Loan Depot.

2230 - For years this was Advanced Wireless Inc. (through most of the late 1990s and early 2000s anyway). It closed in the mid-2000s and became All-American Sleep & Mattress (for a relatively short time), then became Fatty's Smoke Shop.

2228 - Cash America Pawn is here and has been here since at least 2007. I can't remember what was here before it. The 2226 address doesn't seem to be used, probably absorbed by it or KC Beauty Mart.

2224 - KC Beauty Mart has been here since at least 2007. Like Cash America, I can't remember a store before it.

2220 - For years, Once Upon a Child was here, but it seems to have moved a least a year ago out to Post Oak Square.

2218 - Play It Again Sports was located right next to OUaC with the same "recycle O" logo, also for years. It closed in the summer of 2012. It is now The Craft & Antique Mall of College Station.

2216 - 9Round was opened after 2012. It appears that the space was used for years as part of Play It Again Sports.

2214 - An Allstate insurance office is here, possibly since moving out from the Sears store a long time ago.

2212 - This was A&M Nails & Spa, then (briefly) RC Salon and has an Aggieland Supplements sign, but the business already seems to have been packed up for Parkway Square. By summer 2020, this became CBD Pros.

2206 - This address (skipping several numbers) is home of Juicy Crawfish restaurant. The space was previously a few clubs including Club Karma and Up Grade.

The gutting of Fuddruckers into an outdoor area. Notice the old column scars.

2204 - This is where the shopping center has some "new" features. Boost Mobile is next to a vacant space, which isn't officially numbered. Originally (as far back as I remember) this was Fuddruckers, with the record for it first appearing in 1986. After it moved to the corner of George Bush East and Harvey Road the space more or less remained vacant. There was "Cafe Beignet and Tea House" in 2005-2006 and "Asian Cuisine and Tea House" in 2006-2007 but neither made much of an impact and closed soon after opening. In particular, Asian Cuisine's sign remained for years after "opening" in 2006 and until the signage started falling off. Boost Mobile later came in afterwards.

So what I could figure, Fuddruckers address is listed as 2206 just like everything else was listed originally (Toys Plus, PrioriTEAS).

From what I can tell also, possibly as far back as Cafe Beignet, the interior of the restaurant was cut back (along with the skeletons of the awnings) to make a new courtyard. The end part of the shopping center facing Outback Steakhouse/Target I don't think has EVER been retenanted.

Looking back toward Outback Steakhouse, but we'll save that for another post.

UPDATE 08-03-2021: Some improvements to the Fuddruckers section, additional tags
UPDATE 06-17-2024: King Noodle & Sushi at 2218 Texas Avenue (replacing The Craft & Antique Mall, which I'm not sure when it closed) opened in late 2023 but closed in June 2024.
UPDATE 06-25-2024: KBTX reported that reports of King Noodle is remaining open. UPDATE 02-21-2026: Fuddruckers' time here was a bit more complicated, it opened in December 1983 but closed two years later in a "temporary" closure (the "temporary" closures also happened to some of the Houston restaurants almost four decades later), though in this case it reopened in May 1986 before moving in June 2003 after 17 years to where former competitor J.J. Muggs once was and operated for another 17 years.
UPDATE 03-01-2026: This article mentions that after J.T. McCord's at 2232 closed in June 1988, the center was mostly vacant, as Fuddruckers and Toys Plus had closed by then.

Kettle College Station

Kettle has since disappeared from the Houston restaurant landscape, but it lived in College Station for more than another decade. (Photo from August 2016 by author, modified to better show colors)
Over the years, there has been many, many places I've seen that Houston had and College Station-Bryan didn't. If there was any sort of chain in the College Station/Bryan area, then there was one in Houston too. There were exceptions of course, Albertsons had survived nearly a decade after the company pulled out of Houston, and AppleTree did the same. While College Station's Winn-Dixie only lasted sometime around the mid-1990s, Houston didn't even have any Winn-Dixie stores.

This also extends to restaurants. When this post was originally written in January 2020, I had mentioned in my post on Fazoli's that it no longer had any Houston-area locations, a result of closings trickling over the previous decade. Kettle was another example, with Kettle #138 at 2502 Texas Avenue South opening in 1983 as a complement to the Manor House Motor Inn. In better days, Kettle was based based out of Houston where most of its stores were located and had locations stretching from Arizona to Florida.

Before it ended in 2021 (with one post in 2023), there was a blog that was on my rotation called Broken Chains, which referred to former chain restaurants that have mostly died off, hence the term "broken chain" (as in chain restaurant). When I wrote the original post in January 2020 the restaurant was 24 hours (many diner-type operations were) but that ended in March 2020 for not just Kettle but hundreds of these diner restaurants and small chains (including Jim's there in the Central Texas area). While the Bryan Kettle soldiers on, in late 2022 it was announced the College Station Kettle would close for good after November 2022. In late May, the building (and its massive sign) was demolished for Salad and Go, which opened in October 2023, nearly a year after Kettle closed. However, after less than two years, Salad and Go closed when the chain shut down 41 Texas locations which included all of the Houston and San Antonio stores, leaving the site vacant once more.

To close out this post, someone on Google added an old picture from the early to mid-2000s. It seems that it was since removed, but I was smart this time and saved it.

It features Kettle as I remember it, with a cook posing inside the "K", and that Manor House sign too. Source unknown.

UPDATE 10-04-2025: Previous updates archived as post was rewritten.

O'Reilly Auto Parts Texas Avenue, College Station

You are now hearing the radio ads for O'Reilly Auto Parts...
Editor's Note: Welcome to 2020! The theme to the next posts I'll be doing on this blog is "Return to Texas Avenue". Here will be additional places missed in the previous posts, with a new index specifically for Texas Avenue coming soon. Additionally, there will be new updates to old posts that will be returned to the index. Stay tuned!

This O'Reilly Auto Parts is at 2831 Texas Avenue South at Morgans Lane, and according to Brazos CAD, built in 2001. The picture above is from me taken in January 2016 (notice there's not any hotels being built behind it), so it's mostly clear blue skies behind it.

Chicks into Stripes

Picture from October 2019.
As we wrap up 2019 for this site, I'd like to share one more story with you. Like Greensworld, this post was supposed to be part of a "Highway 6" series. I was convinced when 7-Eleven bought Stripes from Sunoco, that the Stripes at Briarcrest and Highway 6 would be deemed an outlier and closed. That hasn't happened yet, and as such, it takes the crown of the largest 7-Eleven store in the United States (if it was actually branded as such).

The roots of this super-Stripes (600 North Earl Rudder Freeway) goes back to its roots as a mega-convenience store called Chicks. While its early years are fairly well documented on Yelp, the 12,000 square foot store was supposed to be a Buc-ee's knockoff, to the point where a lawsuit was filed. While Internet armchair lawyers argued that the logo was not a problem, a reveal inside was different, as Chicks had a line of gourmet foods similar in packaging to Buc-ee's, even a version of the sugary "Beaver Nuggets" (basically imagine Cheetos except with caramel coating instead of cheese dust). The lawsuit did force Chicks to change its logo (same shape but just the "CHICKS" name with red, white, and blue) before in 2014, when the store was sold to Stripes. Stripes briefly closed and reopened the store, and liquidated much of the old Chicks store merchandise for its own, and would replace the frozen yogurt counter of Chicks with a Laredo Taco Company (however, Chicks' hamburgers continued to be sold).

One more fun fact: a second (much smaller) Chicks was intended to go in at Highway 40 and Wellborn Road, this ended up being built as a Stripes instead.

Going forward into 2020, I intend to add much less to the site, as much of this year's content (over 40 new posts!) was breaking up existing posts and existing writing. An easy way to check on new updates is to join me on Facebook where updates, new and old, or just a post that I think deserves another look, will be posted.

Hastings College Station

Author's picture, July 2015

Opened in 1998 (from what I can tell from sources/my memory), Hastings was one of the big stores in the unnamed plaza featuring H-E-B Pantry and Gattitown and relocating from a smaller store at Culpepper Plaza. The chain (with the College Station location being at 2004 Texas Avenue South) was the small-town Texas version of the late Media Play, with each store focusing on books and media. There was a large video rental section that took up a quarter of the store (originally videotapes, but eventually transferred over to DVD). The video rental section would also keep multiple copies of the latest movies to hit the video market, with some good deals on those DVDs when they downsized their collection to one or two. There was a small books section (nothing like the selection of Barnes & Noble, or even Waldenbooks in the mall), as well as music, movies, and video games. Later on (maybe 2007), the Hardback Coffee Café was added as Hastings changed their logo and updated the store's exterior. By the time this store closed in August 2015 (the Tejas Center location went approximately a year later when the chain went bust), the store focused more of their merchandise on Funko Pops and other novelties.

After being renovated inside and out, the store reopened as Havertys Furniture, which opened in August 2016. A few of the exterior features added in Hastings' original renovation still stand, such as the small plaza at the north corner of the store where the outdoor seating for the cofeeshop was, as well as part of the drive-through (which originally was dedicated to returning videos, before the renovation made the coffeeshop the main attraction of the loop).

UPDATE 11-07-2020: Mild updates made to the last paragraph.

Greensworld

Most of the former Greensworld has been reduced to just green again.

One story along Highway 6 that's worth telling is GreensWorld, a short-lived golf course near University Drive and Earl Rudder Freeway (or East Bypass as it was known back then) opened in July 1991. With nine holes accessible by a concrete bridge beyond Carter Creek, a small clubhouse, and a putting green in the part closest to the freeway (though unlike the driving range where At Home is now, I don't remember any netting or fences), GreensWorld was unfortunately not a big success. While it was a lit course and considered good for beginners, a full miniature golf course (the type with the windmills) was planned for construction shortly after opening but was never built (likely due to financing issues, it was built out of pocket). The actual greens were accessed by a concrete bridge, and at some point, a flood washed out the other side's connection. I remember getting a picture of said bridge a few years ago (it's still behind Hampton Inn) but I can't seem to find it in my "file morgue". Sometime around 2000, GreensWorld closed and most of it was redeveloped as Douglass Nissan (1001 Earl Rudder Freeway). Douglass Nissan purchased a Waco dealership in 2016 and rebranded it but in 2020 disposed of this dealership (now College Station Nissan). The club house remained into 2005, with Douglass Nissan tearing it down by 2008 and developing it as an expansion in 2012.

In 2005, a new Hampton Inn & Suites opened (complementing its older cousin on Texas Avenue, the hotel at 925 Earl Rudder Freeway is still here to this day. In 2008, Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant opened at 1007 Earl Rudder Freeway (moved from Post Oak Square. It closed in 2019¹ and in May 2022 reopened as Maria Mia TexMex Cantina (more of the same, with decor exactly the same, even the same neon parrot of Ninfa's). With the front part of Greensworld fully redeveloped, there's not much that remains, though there are still light fixtures on the other side of Carter Creek...

1. Ninfa's was essentially two restaurants, "The Original Ninfa's on Navigation" and a franchised operation with different food. In the late 2010s that started to change, with The Original Ninfa's expanding and the franchised stores closing or changing names. Franchised "Ninfa's" operations still exist in the Waco area and Memorial Drive in Houston.

UPDATE 06-12-2025: Major update; this post was basically rewritten from scratch.