Weird Wednesday: Churches Across The Country Home to Basement Bowling Alleys

Church: a place to worship, where your mom dragged you every week growing up, and a spot to bowl?! A seemingly unlikely location to have a bowling alley, this was apparently a thing many decades ago…

From Illinois to New York, around 200 churches in the United States with bowling alleys in their basements still exist. As early as 1860, churches started building bowling alleys to create a recreational place to socialize. Their popularity increased in the 40’s and 50’s when bowling became a widespread hobby across the country. A variety of dominations housed alleys in their churches, and many welcomed non-members to use the facilities, creating a place of acceptance and fellowship within the community.  An alternate reason for the alleys, rumor has it, was to avoid liquor laws during prohibition. St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Peoria, IL, purposefully built their bowling lanes as a part of a “private club” which allowed them to get around the local law prohibiting the sale of liquor before noon on Sundays.

While some of the church bowling alleys are still in great condition, a majority of them go unused, and many people don’t even know they exist (there’s one in Lansing that I bet you didn’t know about!). Most of these will probably be replaced with something else in the future, unless more people express an interest in using them. So, since you probably don’t have a bowling alley in your own basement, sneak downstairs after your next Sunday service, and you might just strike gold!