MR. BOWLING: The headline read, “City’s No. 1 Pin Figure Leaves
Sports Scene.” The date was Monday, Jan. 2, 1956.
In an article featured prominently on the sports page, Era
Sports Editor Joe Guido pays tribute to Arthur M. Dort, termed “Mr.
Bowling of Bradford since 1920.” After 35 years, Dort turns over
the keys to the Public Square bowling alleys to Oscar Benton, the
new owner.
Some of you remember the Public Square bowling alleys located in
a building that is gone now, next to the old Elks Club (and still
home to the Italian American Progressive Club). For years, the
Public Square bowling alleys, along with the Star Lanes, and later
Byllye Lanes, housed the bowling teams and casual keglers of
Bradford.
(And on a different subject, remember, too, the businesses
downstairs from the lanes, including Nick’s Red Hots, Headwall Skip
Shop, the Monarch Pool Hall, Greenberg Light Company and Neil
Lear’s vacuum repair shop.)
Back to the story … Guido writes this about Dort’s influence on
Bradford bowling: “The Public Square Alleys, perhaps, can be called
the most popular slides the city ever had when a check back in the
history is made. It is the oldest establishment of its kind in the
immediate area and also for years was the home of the Interstate
Bowling tournament, a tourney that drew the best of the nation’s
bowlers as well as the mediocre kegler.
“From the day that Arthur Mark Dort took over back in 1920,
bowling took a leap forward in Bradford. When the alleys opened
back in 1917, bowling was comparatively new locally, but it didn’t
take long for the sport to flourish.
“However, the original owners of the alleys couldn’t make a go
of the business. Two residents of Bradford, both stars of the game
by the names of Eddie Teichart and Natie Nattreas, the latter a
member of a Buffalo baseball club, started the alleys, but at the
end of three years saw them sold out by a sheriff’s sale.
“The purchaser was Mr. Dort. Reminiscing, Mr. Bowling went back
to the early days of the alleys and told how he used to take time
off from his job with the Bradford National Bank to sneak over and
watch the laying of the slides in the room over the then Col. A.D.
Burns Plumbing shop, now the Greenberg Light Company. ‘Yes,’ said
Dort, “I watched them lay each piece of wood.’
“About a quarter of a century later, Dort also was on hand to
watch the alleys receive great damage by flames that ate out
practically the entire pit end of the alleys. This fire broke out
at 4 p.m. on the morning of Oct. 24, 1941, and only exceptional
work by firemen saved the building.
“After that, the alleys were remodeled, and several years later
another renovating session modernized the front of the room.
