History at a Glance

This story is from the July 28, 1955, edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal.

"Shelton wrapped welcoming arms around the community's newest recreation center, the Timber Bowl, last weekend during a three-day grand opening that exceeded the fondest hopes of owner L. L. McInelly and manager Eddie Hurd. Approximately 1,000 bowling strings were rolled between 9 Friday night and closing time Sunday night, when a special introductory offer of one game free for each two bowled terminated.

"Visitors at the Timber Bowl enjoyed free doughnuts and coffee as guests of the Lucky Strike Cafe, the bowl's lunch counter, and Ar-Own Bakery, and free ice cream bars as gifts of the Shelton Dairy and Arden Farms Dairy Products.

"Opening ceremonies Friday evening, presided over by Rocky Hembroff of the Shelton Toastmasters, were given an auspicious start. Mayor Herb Rotter, looking in midseason form despite his proclamation of not having thrown a bowling ball in 15 years, left only two pins standing with his christening pitch. Then the timber bowl maples were really put through their paces by hordes of eager pinmen and pinfems who kept the management on the job until the wee hours for three straight nights.

"Approximately 200 strings were rolled between 9 and 3 Friday, and 400 more both Saturday and Sunday as veterans and novices, young and old, fired at the tenpins in a steady stream of activity that left few breathing spells for the pinsetters back in the gleaming new pits.

The first competitive bowling in the new alleys found Shelton pinmen playing the perfect hosts by letting visiting bowlers from Tacoma and Vashon Island take home victories. A team of high-average Tacomans (none with averages of less than 180 in Tacoma's major league) won all three games against a selected team of Shelton's top keglers, but not without quite a struggle, and not with the best series. That honor went to Sheltonian Ken Fredson, who notched the first 600 series on the new alleys with his scores of 213-201-187. The second Shelton team, selected to oppose the Vashon Island team, managed to cop one game but lost the total pin count by a sizeable margin.

"The four match play teams occupied only half of the Timber Bowl's eight glistening new alleys, leaving four for open play. Those who drew the honor of rolling the open games included a group of six Shelton teenagers on one alley, a pair of Olympia bowlers on another and groups of Shelton adults on the other two. One of the teenagers, Dick Gray, an undersized 15-year-old who had never had a bowling ball in his hand before, amazed veterans of the game with the way he "took to" the sport. The youngster showed excellent form and accuracy in his delivery and scored as high as 140-plus in his early efforts.

"Of the nearly 1,000 games rolled during the opening weekend, a 231 score made by Warren Seiger, one of the Tacoma hotshots, was the best. The first bowler to shoot a perfect 300 game on the new alleys in league play will pick up a $250 reward offered by Jack Stewart of Jack Stewart's Sporting Goods.

"With everything new - shoes, balls, alleys, return racks, etc. - it was to be expected that some rough edges would develop, but these were minor. Principal troubles were shoes failing to slide properly for a couple of frames before getting a bit smoothed off, balls failing to get enough momentum to climb the return rack (a bit of wear will correct this), and the alleys being a bit too fast for curve and hook balls to take.

The Timber Bowl was later expanded to a 16-lane bowling center and a lounge was added to the Lucky Strike Cafe. It remained a popular gathering place in Shelton until the building was destroyed by fire in November 2008.

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."