By Courtesy of The Historical Society of Cheshire County

Copyright keenesentinel

The ancient sport of bowling arrived in Keene in about 1820, when Dr. Joseph Wheeler had an alley built for his family at his house on School Street. Public alleys were soon built at Knight’s Tavern and the Sun Tavern on Court Street. The people who used those alleys were expected to patronize the tavern bars.

Complaints of noise and unruly behavior caused the town to vote that there could not be any alleys operated within a mile of the Congregational Church on Central Square. A new alley was immediately built just outside of the 1-mile limit. These early alleys were often constructed in connection with a saloon and were often referred to as bowling saloons.

The City Council soon relaxed the law, and a bowling alley was built in a meadow alongside Railroad Street in the 1840s. It had a good reputation under the ownership of Norman Kellogg, who passed away in 1852. The appraisers of his estate bowled a few strings and proclaimed that the alley was worth $32.

This alley had several owners after Kellogg’s death and had a terrible reputation as an immoral and unruly establishment. Sarah Webber bought the alley in 1864. Local reports at the time indicated that Miss Webber attracted more business than her predecessors, and none of it was good. In October of 1864 she shot and killed a customer. Webber was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to serve 15 years in the state prison. She was later cleared by witnesses to the shooting and was pardoned by the governor in 1871. The old bowling saloon was removed at about the same time.

A bowling alley was built in the 1890s in connection with a beer bottling plant on Emerald Street. Customers of the alley were entertained by a live orchestra. At least one other private alley was built in the city, at a large residence on Court Street.

There were only three long-lasting bowling alleys in the city during the 1900s. Pastime Lanes opened on Mechanic Street in 1937 and operated for more than 50 years. Zinn’s Bowling Lanes, which opened as Zinn’s Bowling Alleys in the early 1950s, remained in business into the 1990s. Yankee Lanes, which has been operating for more than 60 years, rounds out 200 years of bowling in Keene.