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Syracuse has a very unique bowling history. So being one of the oldest bowling communities in the U.S., we have taken the opportunity of collecting information from bowlers scrapbooks, the Onondaga Historical Association, the Syracuse Public Library, the Post-Standard, the Herald Journal, and the Herald American. We are going to document some of the highlights of bowling in Syracuse dating back to the 1870's and we will be updating some of this information periodically as it becomes available.

1870

Bowling got started in Syracuse in 1870. The first two bowling alleys were constructed in the basement of the Wieting Opera House on
South Salina Street.

1879

The first bowling match in Syracuse history was held in 1879 at Lenehans Bowling Alley, which was located in the basement of the Wieting Opera House. It consisted of a one game match between a team from Syracuse against a team from Utica. Each team was comprised of ten bowlers and it took two hours to complete the match. These two teams bowled a home and home match with the first match-taking place in Utica on February 13, 1879 and the second match in Syracuse on February 27, 1879. The team from Syracuse won both matches. The score of the match in Utica was 1,605 to 1,518 in favor of Syracuse and the score of the match in Syracuse was 1,894 to 1,834 also in favor of Syracuse. The individual scores of the match in Syracuse were as follows.

                        SYRACUSE                                                      UTICA
           
            Chas. Vanderbilt-----194                           J. Vivian-----------197
            M. Daly----------------226                            P. Faas-------------128
            R. Whittle-------------187                            L. Davis------------177
            F. Becker--------------179                            J. McNierny-------156
            M. Welch--------------183                            W. Williams-------151
            J. Murphy--------------156                           J. Schremp---------195
            W. Heffron------------169                            C. Herbert---------215
            J. Dwyre---------------210                            J. Osterman-------209
            T. Galvin---------------183                           C. Knapp----------187
            D. Hennessey---------207                            J.Donohue---------219
                                                1,894                                                         1,834