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FOND DU LAC – Bowling enthusiasm has hit peaks and valleys since the early 20th century, and Fond du Lac had been serious about the sport since the beginning.
Fond du Lac has seen many bowling alleys — and many leagues — in its history, including lanes at unexpected establishments, such as Rueping Leather and St. Mary's School, according to late Reporter columnist Linus Doll.
The claim for the oldest lanes in the nation went to the Elks Lodge No. 57 on Sheboygan Street, which held four lanes in the basement, sanctioned in 1909.
In 1989, then-lane manager Ray Burgess told The Reporter several other Elks Clubs maintained their own bowling lanes, and almost every club had its own league. In a time when bowling enthusiasm was starting to fluctuate, he said the secret to the Fond du Lac club's endurance was keeping the lanes small in number and easy to maintain, and with private membership, they didn't need to rely on a "fickle public."
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From 1940 on, the club kept track of its league champions in the "winner's circle," an area that held winning teams and members on bowling pins.
An early public bowling alley was West Side Lanes, which opened on Division Street in 1917 and expanded its lanes in 1955.
For a majority of its operation, the business was passed down the generations, from Mike and Jennie Moses to Dorothy and Frank Eggers in 1949, then to Janice and Chris Streeter in 1982.
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In 1996, West Side Lanes became the first in Fond du Lac and one of the first in the country to get glow-in-the-dark lanes, but kept its old-fashioned atmosphere where everyone knew each other and felt like family, according to archives.
The Streeters ran the lanes until the end of 2004, and it later became Last Stop Bar and Lanes. In 2010, however, the neighborhood alley burned down.
"A Fond du Lac man who told City Council members on Oct. 22, 2008, that a smoking ban would ruin his business watched his bowling alley engulfed by flames early Wednesday morning," The Reporter read on March 4, 2010.
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A few days later, the owner, who took over the space in 2006, confessed to setting the fire himself after financial issues. The building was never rebuilt.
After West Side Lanes opened, bowling started to boom, and in the mid-1920s, Arcade Lanes secured itself as a Main Street pillar for the activity for many years.
Remember Madame Kuony? Remember when Madame Kuony taught culinary arts out of her mansion? Here’s the story of the Postilion.
Frank Hilbert was a pinsetter, lane maintenance worker, bartender and assistant manager-owner of the Arcade from the 1940s, and later took partial ownership. When he bought land in 1976 for the present-day Ledgeview Lanes , he promised an eventual closure of the Arcade.
First, however, his son Tom Hilbert took over management of the Arcade, which remodeled into a Swiss-style theme and changed its name to Alpine Bowl. It didn't close until 1991, but the Hilbert family assured bowlers they would uphold the same family-owned tradition at Ledgeview Lanes.
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After the pins fell silent for the last time at Alpine, the building housed several bars for the next 30 years, as well as a few athletic studios, including taekwondo and aerobics. Now, the main part of the building houses El Jefe's Mexican Bar & Grill , 65 N. Main St.
Karl Ray Lanes was one of the most recent to leave Fond du Lac's bowling scene, with 24 lanes sitting at 770 S. Military Road. In addition to open plays and bowling competitions, it also hosted Windjammer West in the basement — while Ledgeview Lanes hosted Windjammer East.
Owners Gary and Bill Hilbert sold the building to Mills Fleet Farm in 2012, citing a downturn in the economy and community families' lack of money for recreational activities. After one last state bowling tournament in 2013, the bowling alley closed, and Fleet Farm razed the building.
Gary Hilbert's family continued to operate Parkway Lanes, which, along with Ledgeview Lanes, is still open today.
Remember Woody's?: Remember when Fond du Lac had a dedicated youth center through the 1990s? Here's the story of Woody's.
More history: It happened this week
- May 8, 1968: Gene's Camera announced the grand opening of a Main Street store, offering free camera checkups and a demonstration of the new Polaroid Color Pack Camera, where the "Polaroid Girl" would take free color portraits for customers.
- May 6, 1976: Fond du Lac Postmaster Louis J. Andrew warned readers the local post office load saw a high increase after UPS workers went on strike. In one case, a local firm had held its UPS shipments for a few days, thinking the strike would be over quickly, but eventually had to bring 10 5-ton truckloads of parcels at once to the post office for shipping.
- May 8, 1986: Fond du Lac honored Coca-Cola's 100th anniversary, and though "New Coke" had rolled out in grocery stores, local store managers reported classic Coca-Cola reigned supreme by a high margin, going so far as to say New Coke was a "pretender to the throne" that had virtually been banished.
" Remember when ... " is a bi-weekly column from Streetwise Reporter Daphne Lemke that looks back at businesses of Fond du Lac's storied past. Tell her what you'd like to see next by emailing dlemke@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Remember when bowling was a favorite pastime for Fond du Lac? Here's a look at some of its most popular lanes.
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