Bates Street Finally Has a Friday Night: Old Town Keller's Depot Nights Heads Into Black Friday

"This will truly become a destination for gathering, connection, small business and unforgettable experiences," Ashley Stone Hernandez told Community Impact this fall. She was talking about two old houses on Bates Street.

Hernandez and her business partner Jamie Hurley bought 128 and 136 Bates St. Their monthly evening market, Depot Nights on Bates, has already run twice. The next one is the Black Friday Shop Small Market on Nov. 27. The city built a festival street on Bates two years ago, and the owners of the houses beside it are the ones now filling it on Friday nights.

A street built for gatherings

Bates Street Park opened on Oct. 5, 2024. Construction started in October 2023, and the $734,300 project was paid for by the Keller Development Corporation, according to Community Impact's report on the ribbon cutting. The park sits next to the Keller History Museum at 133 Bates St.

The city's Old Town Keller Phase II page lists the Bates Street rebuild and the park as complete. Both are part of a wider plan for street, parking, drainage, lighting and pedestrian improvements across Old Town.

The street was designed to host events. Its public art came out of a festival-street placemaking effort, and an Old Town Keller feature on the art benches counts 11 different artist-designed benches, along with string lights, landscaping and seating. All of that is public. The buildings that face the park are private, and two of them sat empty for years.

The two houses facing the park

The Hive & Holding Co., which Hernandez and Hurley co-own, now owns 128 and 136 Bates St. The buildings used to be the Keller Station House & History Museum and Catherine Anne's Books. Hernandez told Community Impact both had been empty for more than three years and that each house is at least 100 years old.

The project is called The Keller Depot, and the name comes from Old Town's railroad history. It has three parts.

• The Station House, 128 Bates St., is named for the former train museum. A coffee shop is the planned use.
• The Jackson Cottage, 136 Bates St., is the former bookstore. A dessert business is the planned use.
• A historic railroad ticket booth on loan from the Keller History Museum stands between the two houses. Its sign reads "Interurban Lines," the electric railway that once connected Fort Worth to Dallas, Cleburne, Denison, Corsicana and Waco, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

The city has a financial stake as well. On Sept. 15, the Keller City Council approved a facade grant to The Hive & Holding Co. for both houses. Keller Economic Developer Ana Erwin told Community Impact the project could qualify for up to $30,000 in reimbursement through city grants.

The houses also connect to an Old Town venue many locals already know. Hernandez owns 139 Olive, an event center, and the Bates Street houses share a fence line with it. She plans to lay turf in the backyards to match 139 Olive and link the back of both houses to the event center. On market nights, The Keller Depot already sends guests from Olive Street through the connected 139 Olive and Keller Depot properties to Bates Street.

What the first two nights looked like

The first Depot Nights on Bates took place Sept. 25 in Bates Street Park, with music, food and local vendors. Community Impact described it as an early look at The Keller Depot. The event page describes the format as maker and small-business booths, food and drink vendors and food trucks, and live local music. BYOB is allowed for guests 21 and older.

Kickin' It Local's recap of the first night lists the September vendors:

• 3F Premier Catering
• A & M Craftie
• FIT4MOM
• L.D. Watson Photography
• Little Miss Sourdough Treats
• Make It Ring
• Pho in the Box
• Punky Doodle
• Stephens Sweet Shoppe
• The Grazing Cavi

The Keller Depot's site names Stephens Sweet Shoppe, Jason and Tina's candy truck concept, as the planned future tenant of The Jackson Cottage. That means one booth at the first market was a preview of a shop planned for the same street.

The second night was Oct. 23. Old Town Keller's fall calendar named Brandon McLaughlin as the performer. The October event listing called Depot Nights a hoped-for "Fourth Friday tradition."

Black Friday on Bates Street

The fourth Friday in November is Black Friday, so the next edition is the Black Friday Shop Small Market.

The parking plan shows how the properties are meant to work together. The Keller Depot asks guests who park on Olive Street to walk through the connected 139 Olive and Keller Depot properties to reach Bates Street. The Old Town Keller fall calendar points out that the market lands on Thanksgiving weekend, so families with visiting relatives have a reason to put it on the plan.

November around the Bates and Olive block

Depot Nights isn't the only thing happening on these few blocks. Salt & Light Collective is at 138 Olive St., across from 139 Olive, and Communion Coffee plans a worship night on Bates Street. Put November's Old Town calendar in order and much of it falls within a short walk of the park.

That puts two Bates Street evenings a week apart, on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27. Salt & Light classes require registration, and Hush's tasting nights are ticketed, so check each organizer's page before you go. The Keller History Museum, next to the park at 133 Bates St., normally opens Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with free admission. Holiday hours may differ, so check ahead.

What happens after Nov. 27

Holly Days closes out the season. The city holds it on the first Friday of December, with the Very Merry Light Parade, photos with Santa and the Christmas tree lighting. This year it falls on Dec. 4. The city calendar lists it from 5 to 9 p.m., an hour earlier at both ends than 2025's 6 to 10 p.m. window. The city hasn't posted a 2026 venue in that listing.

Holly Days falls one week after the Black Friday market. That's also one week before a fourth-Friday December date would be, and the organizers haven't posted any dates past Nov. 27. The coffee shop at The Station House and the dessert concept at The Jackson Cottage are still plans. A Community Impact photo caption from Oct. 1 says the historic spaces could be ready for lease by the end of 2026.

For now, the Nov. 27 market on Bates Street is the next confirmed Depot Night. If you go, park on Olive Street and walk through to the park.

If you own in or near Old Town and want to talk about what the Bates Street redevelopment could mean for your property, Rosie Smelcer Group would be glad to walk through it with you. Schedule your private consultation.