Fox Lake Historical Society, March 19, 2022: Puppet Bar Ghosts?

Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society, Fox Lake, Illinois.

Working on the website and information being updated.

There used to be 56 or 57 bars in Fox Lake.  It was, after all, a resort town.

**  The society has more Grant Township yearbooks than it needs and will sale extra copies to persons contacting us.  I think the price would be $20.

**  Of course, these last two years have been very difficult in both membership and finances.

**  A paranormal guy came by and said the Eagle Point puppets had a lot of energy emanating from them.

**  They're looking for docents to come in and  watch the place and help visitors on every other Sunday afternoon, but, I'm wondering, what if you're sitting there by yourself with "ghosts" around.  

**  There used to be a bowling alley next door to the museum and it had eight lanes and there used to be a gas station on the other side of it.

--Cooter

Echoes of the Past, Decorah, Iowa-- Part 3: House For Sale At $11,000

1955, SIXTY YEARS AGO:

**  FOR SALE:  three-bedroom home on Spring Street.  Only 1-year-old.  Wall-to-wall carpeting.  Priced at $11,000.

1965, FIFTY YEARS AGO:

**  Nob Hill is serving all-you-can-eat chicken on Tuesday nights for $1.50.  Don't forget Friday night fish fry event,$1.25.

**  H.T. Leseth of Decorah bowled a perfect game here on Jan. 18, 1965.  It was the first perfect game bowled here since 1951.  Leseth bowls for the A&J Agency in the City League.

1985, 30 YEARS AGO:

**  The local ice skating rink closed the other day due to wind chills dropping to -83 degrees.  Many other events were cancelled in the area due to the cold snap, the most severe weather of this winter so far.

--Cooter

Really Old Bowling Alleys-- Part 2

Three restored lanes built by the Brunswick Balke-Collender Co. are America;s oldest operational lanes.  Student bowlers sit on a wooden ledge at the back of the lanes and hop down, reset the pins and return the balls to their wooden and metal rails.  Now, that is old school, kind of like the Wrigley Field scoreboard.

I can remember being in a bowling league back in the late 70s with neighbors and we had to enter scores manually, then, it was done electronically, no doubt cutting down on some cheating.

Tenpins didn't have standardized rules for equipment or play until the American Bowling Congress was founded in 1895.

The Holler House in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was built in 1908 and its two basement lanes are still set by hand.

Bowling's heyday is considered to be the 1950s and 1960s.  Television made superstars out of the professional bowlers.  There were as many as 12,000 bowling alleys across the United States, with just half that number remaining today.

The largest bowling alley is the 90-lane Thunderbowl in Allen Park, Michigan.

The, There Were Those Really Smelly Rental Shoes.  --DaCoot

Really Old Bowling Alleys-- Part 1

From the American Profile "Landmark Lanes" by Marti Attoun.

Not saying that the Garden Bowl in downtown Detroit is old, but...they have been bowling there since 1913.  Joe Zainea, 78 says it used to be "the workingman's country club."  His father bought it in 1946 and today, he works it with his sons Dave, 51, and Joe, 45.

His brother George, 80, bowls in a league four times a week.  He remembers in the 40s and 50s when every industry and business sponsored a team.  Now, bowling alleys are designed more for family activities and parties.

A form of bowling has been played since 3200 BC in Egypt and variations can be found in most countries' histories.  Immigrants brought the game with them to the Americas.  In New York, the oldest park is named Bowling Green because of the lawn bowling of the Dutch colonists.

America's oldest surviving bowling alley was built in 1846 by businessman Henry Chandler Bowen at Roseland Cottage in Woodstock, Connecticut.  On July 4, 1870, President Grant enjoyed it during a visit.  Mr. Bowen was a temperance man, so no drinking, smoking or card playing was allowed in his house.  Grant got a strike and wanted to celebrate with a cigar, but was informed he'd have to smoke it outside.  I guess he did.

Oh No, a 7-10 Split!!  --Cooter