Since I live in the Detroit area,and love the history of bowling,I thought
I would share this article with you.
The article is from the April 1997 Bowlers Journal International.It is not
in print any longer.This is from my collection of BJI.
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A Dream In Detroit
Built as "a working man's private club,"Detroit Recreation was wa-a-a-ay
ahead of it's time.
by J.R.Schmidt
In 1917,Detroit was America's boomtown.The auto industry was moving
into mass production.Everybody wanted to buy a car,and every Detroiter
from Henry Ford to the rawest rookie on the assembly line seemed to be
making money.When it came time to spend the loot on recreation,a lot of
it flowed into the local bowling centers.
William Sweeney and Irvin Huston already owned one successful estab-
lishment.Now they acquired a prime parcel of downtown land at the
southwest corner of Lafayette Boulevard and Shelby Street.There they
planned to build the largest bowling and billiard parlor in the world.
Most bowling still took place in the extra room behind the neighborhood
saloon.The average establishment had four lanes.Plankinton Arcade
in Milwaukee had just opened with the amazing total of 41 lanes.Imagine
the bombshell the Detroiters dropped when they announced that their
place would have 88!
As it developed,the partners picked a bad time to start building.The
United States entered World War I in April,leaving an uncertain future
for the nation's businesses.By then,however,the walls of the Detroit
Recreation were already going up.In all,the price tag would reach
$1.1 million.That was serious money in 1917;Comiskey Park in
Chicago,The magnificent "Baseball Palace,"had cost only $750,000.
Billiards would occupy a significant portion of Detroit Rec.Brunswick
was contracted to provide 103 top-of-the-line tables,mahogany with
inlaid mother-of-pearl.Fifty-three of the tables were carom,38 pocket,
and 12 snooker.The budget for house cues alone came to $13,000.
Balkline champ Ora Morningstar was hired to run the billiards
operation.
The Recreation was to be "a working man's private club."
As such,the facilities were many and varied.The ground floor was
devoted to the lobby and a lunchroom.A larger restaurant was
located in the basement,along with a 20-chair barber shop and
a chiropractor's office.The carom billiard tables were on the
second floor,surrounded by a 200-seat balcony.Pool and snooker
tables were on the third floor.Floors four through seven housed
the bowling lanes,in banks of 22.Each of the "game floors"had its
own soda fountain and cigar shop,and in the rear of the second-
floor balcony,there was a small reading room.
Somehow,Sweeney and Huston forgot to include overnight
guest rooms and chapel.Otherwise,it might have been possible
for a patron to live out his life without emerging from the building.
Detroit Recreation was thrown open with grand celebration
Nov.5,1917.Five thousand visitors passed through the building
on the first evening.The opening-week festivities included
nightly bowling and billiard exhibitions,with the tenpin matches
featuring Jimmy Smith and Count Gengler.
Detroit bowlers were proud of their new Recreation."It was
a marvelous place."Joe Norris recalled."They had the finest
facilities and the best of everything." Bowling had graduated
from the backroom,moving into a grand palace that seemed
to symbolize the bright future ahead.In their own way,
Sweeney and Huston proclaimed that the bowling business
had come of age when they advertised their showplace
with a single-word headline:"Environment"
The Recreation was also in the forefront of sociological change.
The entire fourth floor of the building was set aside for women.Ethel
Green,a visitor from upstate New York,had gotten the partners
interested in women's bowling,and she was put in charge of
the program.Her floor staff was female,including the 22 "pingirls."
In an era when bowling was considered unladylike,it was a
giant step forward.
With the success of Detroit Recreation,megacenters began to
rise in other cities.Linsz Recreation in Cleveland opened its
own 88 lanes.In Philadelphia,Hudson Recreation topped them
all with 105 lanes.Both of these houses were casualties of
World War II.By the postwar boom,Detroit Recreation was
once more the world's biggest bowling center.
Oddly enough,for such a large and well-regarded center,the
Recreation played only a minor role in actual,competitive bowling.
Most of the Motor City's money matches and top-level
tournaments were held at other houses.like Chene-Trombly,
State Fair,or Palace.One exception was the 1953 WIBC Tournament,
which drew a record 5,000 teams to the Recreation.
Detroit Recreation closed in 1959,a victim of changing
demographics.But by then,the principle it pioneered had
become firmly established;give the public quality,and there
are no limits on bowling.
