The Soda Fountain

(Page 2)

Gruene General Store | Gruene, Texas
Coffee is still 5 cents!

Nau's Enfield Drugs, Enfield Neighborhood, Austin, Texas.

The soda fountain closed in 2019 due to COVID, reopened for a short time, and then closed again, although the drugstore remained open. Sadly this neighborhood drugstore, opened in 1951, closed in March, 2023.

Nau's Enfield Drugs | Austin, Texas

Nau's Enfield Drugs | Austin, Texas

Bandera General Store, Bandera, Texas

The soda fountain was built in the 1950’s and it is one of the only 11 or so original soda fountains left in the State of Texas! The fountain’s bar was originally a long cutting board used for cutting leather and the cuts and the scrapes can still be seen. It became the counter for ice cream in the 50’s. You can get Malts, Milk Shakes, Floats, Sodas, Freezes, Black Cows, Sundaes and even Banana Splits all made with the famous Blue Bell Ice Cream from Brenham, Texas. The building was originally the Cox Dance Hall.

Bandera General Store | Bandera, Texas

R & S Drug Store | Duncan, Oklahoma

R & S opened in 1945—With a lunch counter. The counter still serves up milkshakes and the the like, along with hot dogs and daily specials. As the image indicates, a popular eating spot for Duncan's policemen.

R & S Drug Store | Duncan, Oklahoma

Yale Pharmacy | Houston Heights Neighborhood | Houston, Texas

Now the Yale Street Grill. The soda fountain, always called "The Grill," although changed over the years, dates back to 1923. The pharmacy part of the grill, which closed in 2001, now is home to an antique store. The pharmacy and The Grill have changed hands over the years. With the changing of hands, the menu saw changes, not always to the liking of the citizens of Houston Heights. Nevertheless, the soda fountain offering remain pretty much the same as they were in 1923. I wish now that I had taken more photos. I always thought that we'd get back to take those shots, but it never happened.

Yale Street Grill | Houston, Texas

Lock Drug Store | Bastrop, Texas

Not a large drugstore soda fountain as drugstore soda fountains go. So small that the modern cash register had to be relegated to a sitting on a box. Just shy of her 5Oth anniversary (founded in 1970 by David Lock), she was forced to close and bought out by CVS in 2019. Needless to say there were some very unhappy customers with the lost of that "Know you by your name, service." When the drug store and soda fountain was flourishing, it was Bastrop's center for civic discourse. Locke became mayor in 1980 and sold the store to John Mohrman who owned Lock to the end. In 2015 Mohrman moved the store from downtown (the location of the image) to Highway 71, and with that move, the soda fountain was no longer.

Lock Drug Store | Bastrop, Texas

The Soda Fountain closed in 2014. When open, the fountain and counter were claimed to be the oldest extant drugstore soda fountain still in operation in a drugstore. The fountain and counter date back to 1905 and the W.J. Miley Drugstore. The image was taken in 2012.

Main Drug | Nixon, Texas

Main Drug, opened in 1964, has over the years become more of a gift shop than a drugstore, although prescriptions are still dispensed and typical drugstore items can still be found. What is no longer, is the soda fountain. The counter now serves as a display shelf, although when I stopped by in 2015, you could still get an ice cream cone.

Nixon Drug | Nixon, Texas

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