Baby Jim’s: a Culpeper icon for six decades

What’s blue and red with a big smiling chef all over it? It’s the Baby Jim’s Snack Bar sign, North Main Street’s most recognizable steel and neon landmark.

The sign, the family and the down-home service associated with the locally owned burger and fries joint remains the same since Collis Jenkins Jr.,
Baby Jim’s founder, opened the place in its current spot back in 1953.

Jenkins Jr., now 79 and retired, actually opened Baby Jim’s six years earlier - in 1947 - a block or two south along Main Street in an alley next to Weaver Garage.

The youngest in his family, Jenkins Jr. had long before earned the nickname, “Baby Jim;” and so when he opened his restaurant at the ripe old age of 18, the name stuck.

He married Pauline Jenkins from Rappahannock in 1953 and 15 years later little Collis III came along - the couple’s only child. Today, Collis III runs Baby Jim’s with his mom and a longtime crew, including Janet Jarrells, who’s been serving up eggs, dogs, cows, pigs, seafood, chicken, sides and drinks for nearly 30 years.

Besides doling out “cows,” a.k.a. burgers and steaks, at Baby Jim’s, Collis III, now 40, raises his own cows, along with dad, out on a farm near Norman.
Baby Jim’s son started helping out in the restaurant during high school and hasn’t looked back since. The South Main Street eatery opens at 4:30 a.m., catering to early morning commuters and workmen, and that’s typically its busiest time.

Working in the restaurant just the other week, Mrs. Jenkins reflected on why she feels Baby Jim’s has lasted so long.

“I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging, but you have to know Baby Jim,” said his wife. “His personality - he gets along with everybody. He never sees
any wrong in anyone regardless of what the person has done, he’ll find a little good in that person.”

And then there’s the “delicious food,” Mrs. Jenkins said, and the dedication of her son, who she said is Baby’s Jim’s future.

“We get along great,” she said. “We may not agree on everything but we work it out. He’s a good person, almost like his dad.”

Collis Jenkins III said it’s the people of Culpeper who keep Baby Jim’s jumping these days in spite of the constant arrival of new food joints.

“Loyal customers, the locals from Culpeper,” said Collis. “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the people of Culpeper.”