The history of bowling in Milwaukee

There was a time when Milwaukee had earned the title as “The Bowling Capital of America.”

Evolving from German “kegling,” German-Americans helped raise the game’s popularity in the states, and a city like Milwaukee with a deep German heritage was quick to adopt. But as nationwide popularity fell, Milwaukee’s bowling culture wasn’t ... well, uh, spared.

The United States Bowling Congress, which once called Greendale home, moved to Texas in 2008. The PBA Tour, once sponsored by Miller Brewing, stopped making the city a regular tour stop after 1990, bowling centers closed and WTMJ’s wildly popular “Bowling With the Champs” TV series, which made local celebrities out of top bowlers and served as a precursor to reality competition television, ended after 41 years in 1995.

But bowling’s history remains visible around the city and state. Milwaukee tavern The Holler House houses the oldest sanctioned bowling alley in the United States, and the miniature version of the sport still has a place at legendary Koz’s Mini Bowl, home to “the last duckpin bowling in the U.S.” The Vulcan Corporation in northern Wisconsin became a major manufacturer of bowling pins.

And the PBA even returned for a stop in Wauwatosa in 2023.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The history of bowling in Milwaukee