Old Town Spring began as a railroad town back in the late 1800's. As the railroad came southward to Texas, it finally arrived in Houston. Houston began to flourish and become industrialized creating the need to get materials in and out of the area. Another set of tracks was coming south through East Texas and that track came right through what is now Old Town Spring on it's way into Houston. As the workers came closer to Old Town Spring, it was after a long cold winter and they were looking forward to the warmer weather ahead. In fact, they were so exited that spring was coming, when they got to this area, they named it "Camp Spring". Camp Spring was located on the International and Great Northern Railroad line. Camp was eventually dropped from the name and Spring became a small railroad town. In the 1900's, many hotels, saloons, cafes, blacksmith shops, general stores and banks were built in the small town. For the railroad, they built a train yard (still in operation today south of Old Town Spring) depot, roundhouse, and water tower to supply the old steam engines with water. There are a few old stories about a few of the natives swimming in the old water tower. Spring flourished until the twenties when the railroad moved their head--quarters to Houston. Then the Great Depression occurred in 1930 and the boom days of Spring were over.

The boom days of Spring may have been over as a railroad town, but Spring was to be revitalized again. This time Spring was to become a shopping community with a quaint old railroad feel. The idea of the shopping community was all based around the Spring Cafe' (now Wunsche Brothers). Many people would flock down to Spring to eat one of those old fashioned hand-pattied burgers.

A couple of entrepreneurl people noticed all the people and the ambiance. The old surrounding buildings started to be restored one at a time and little shops were in the building just across from Wunsche Brothers. Spring then adopted the name Old Town Spring. The shops began to prosper and become bigger taking over whole buildings. Today we have over 150 shops and restaurants in Old Town Spring.

Puffabellys opened in 1995 in an old railroad depot similar to the one that used to be in Old Town Spring. The original Spring Depot was moved off the Union Pacific Railroad for liability reasons and was destroyed. We needed a depot in this railroad town. We purchased the old Lovelady, Texas Railroad Depot. Lovelady is just two hours northeast of Spring and is on the same railroad line. The Lovelady Depot was built by the same man who built the original Spring Depot. We had that old depot brought in to Spring around the late eighties and it sat vacant unitl 1995. Puffabellys was open for approximately five years when it caught fire and burned completely to the ground. We were not able to save anything and began to rebuild just one week later. With good friends, we were able to get back up just four months later. The depot that we're in now resembles the old depot very much. We were able to find old materials to make our new building have the same character and ambiance that the old did.

Those hand-pattied burgers are back. When we opened in 1995 we imagined a place that served good food, had a relaxed atmosphere, and played great music. We knew that these three things would bring family and friends together to share good times at Puffabellys. This idea worked and we have made a lot of new friends along the way. Over the years we have expanded our idea into live music, catering and even homemade frozen casseroles for pick up. So stop by when you are in Old Town Spring to see us... Seth Sanders / Owner, Operater