Detroit’s Forgotten Bowling Palace Is Rotting Away

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]If I had hundred billion after jumpst starting Detroit's public transit system, this is one of the first buildings I'd purchased to return to its former glory. From first glance, I'd be shocked if any of you guessed that this was once a bowling alley. That said, like many things built before World War II in Detroit, it wasn't just built for bowling. Completed in 1927 at the hands of developers RB Rowley and GL Waters, Dexter Recreation and Market Center was complete with 24 Brunswick made bowling lanes, 16 Brunswick billiards tables, a drugstore, a new restaurant, a grocery, a meat market, and offices. According to an advert in the Detroit Free Press, the floor construction consists of steel floor trusses furnished by the Gabriel Steel Company. The trusses are covered with 3 in of solid concrete on top, making the structure wholly incombustible.

[00:00:50]In addition to the reinforced concrete, soundproofing between the floors made each level more enjoyable for patrons.

[00:00:57]When it opened, it was a gem of Dexter Boulevard. Pinboys were an essential part of bowling alleys during the first wave of the sports popularity.

[00:01:06]They were needed to reset the pins, return the balls, and eventually reload the pin setting machines. In this era of Detroit's history, it was common place to see hiring adverts based on race.

[00:01:17]While pins crashed in the bowling alley and pool players took smoke breaks between games, the market was in full swing. Martin's Market, run by Martin Bankovich, the one-time president of the Detroit Retail Meat Dealers Association, was operational in 1931.

[00:01:33]Later, the name was changed to the Dexter Market, and numerous businesses operated in the offices over the years.

[00:01:40]It's odd to think of a bowling alley with random businesses inside. However, anything is possible in a walkable community. Have a stressful day? Go bowl a game. Hungry? Grab a bite to eat at the restaurant. Lose track of time and don't have time to go get groceries?

[00:01:56]There's one inside. Over the first few decades, Dexter Recreation was a place for Detroiters to forget about work, drink, celebrate good times, and bowl in leagues. In 1934, now legendary Billyards player James Carris gave exhibitions at Dexter Recreation. He would win five pool championship titles between 1935 and 1949 and be inducted into the Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1977.

[00:02:22]In a December 1934 advert for a free lesson he was doing, Caris was dubbed the Greek Wizard. After years of only hiring white pinboys, the bowling alley was hiring white or black workers in 1943. Sleeping quarters were still provided and race was dropped entirely from the adverts by the end of the year.

[00:02:41]In September 1944, Richard V. Healey, who had bowled a perfect game at 16 two years prior, claimed the city's marathon bowling championship. He bowled 100 games in 11 hours and 7 minutes at Dexter Recreation. His highest game was 268 and his lowest was 146. He claimed to have walked more than 16 miles and carried more than 12 tons during this feat. In 1944, the wage for a pin boy at the bowling alley was $1 an hour. In 2026, that's roughly 18 an hour. The operation was constantly hiring, which typically meant the work wasn't pleasant. In October 1945, Carolyn Soup converted a challenging 4710 split at Dexter Recreation by hitting the four, which overtook the 10, and her ball took out the seven.

[00:03:29]A year later, Florence Scrogggins converted the same pin layout announced in the Detroit Free Press under the title Florence has her big day. I really wish local newspapers were still a thing. I know they are, but you know what I mean. Between April and May 1948, the UAW CIO hosted the International Bowling Tourney at Dexter Recreation. It was co-sponsored by the National Committee for Fair Play, and the event was expected to draw entries from UAW locals across the country. By 1949, the grocery had changed names to become the Dexter Boston Market. Eventually, there would be an operation called King Cole Market there. In the 1950s, legendary Detroit Bowler Bill Rodman managed the bowling alley. Before 1951, non-whites weren't allowed to join the American Bowling Congress. Rodman was the first black man to bowl a 700 in 1900 in the ABC. According to Lafayette Allen Jr., one of his contemporaries. He was considered the greatest black bowler and he was the first inducted into the Greater Detroit Bowlers Hall of Fame.

[00:04:32]Prior, Rodman had worked at the Briggs Manufacturing Company plant. He later won the singles championship twice and became an inspiration for black bowlers around the Midwest. In 1954, he was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1959, he had to have both legs amputated and the Detroit Free Press listed him as in critical condition at Harper Hospital.

[00:04:52]The public was asked to donate blood in his honor. He died in 1961.

[00:04:57]Back on Dexter Boulevard, the structure pictured here was later called Dexter Recreation and Billiards. In May 1967, Ralph Bellamy, a 22-year-old rackman in the billiard's room, was shot twice while working. The shooter was an ex-convict who argued with Bellamy over a dime. The 22-year-old was dead on arrival when he got to the hospital.

[00:05:18]Shortly after, Goodwill Industries opened a thrift store inside the structure.

[00:05:22]This would be their 15th Detroit area store carrying clothing, shoes, furniture, and small appliances.

[00:05:28]In July 1967, the Detroit Rebellion swept across the city after Detroit police raided a blind pig on 12th Street, roughly a mile and a half from the building pictured here. The aftermath was devastating with fires, fighting, and murders across the city.

[00:05:43]Within the carnage, Dexter Boulevard was hit hard. At the time of the rebellion, the thrufair was still lined with buildings, businesses, and apartment complexes. When the fires were put out and the dust settled, many structures were severely damaged and subsequently demolished, never to be rebuilt. By 1974, the Goodwill was still operational. At the time, the thrift store had five other locations in Detroit. Based on population statistics in 1980, assuming all six stores were still open, there was a Goodwill thrift store for every 200,556.5 Detroititers.

[00:06:19]Today, there are no Goodwill Thrift stores in Detroit. If my math is correct, we should at least have three if the ratio were to have held. Around 1980, Fred Deli, an Iraqi immigrant, opened the medicine chest, a liquor store on the ground floor. It was open until around 2012 when he was shot and killed while opening the store. By 1987, Mandy's Fine Foods restaurant had also opened here. There was a coupon in the Detroit Free Press to get a peach cobbler for a dollar and a bread pudding for 75.

[00:06:51]The restaurant was still there in 1991.

[00:06:54]By 1993, Dave's Cut Ray Drugs had moved in. I'm not certain how long it lasted.

[00:07:00]One of the last major tenants of the structure was the Masons. By 1970, MW King Solomon Grand Lodge AFN and AAM had moved in. The organization incorporated on the state level in 1937 was created to promote the general welfare of the King Solomon Masons. The organization's original registered address was 324 Elliot at the corner of Brush, not far from Brewster Douglas. Paperwork signed on October 28th, 1970, solidified the group's move to 9840 Dexter Avenue, pictured here. At some point, Dexter had become an avenue, not a boulevard, even if some signs still say boulevard.

[00:07:38]Regardless of that, King Solomon Grand Lodge was officially on Dexter. The last documents for the nonprofit are from 2007 and it was dissolved in 2010.

[00:07:48]Although the Prince Hallmasons, the more popular Masons, do not recognize the group, the organization was around for nearly 75 years and occupied a mammoth structure on Dexter Avenue, which seems pretty legit to me. The Fish and Soul Food Cafe was the last tenant of the smaller space on the main floor. I lived a short ride down Dexter from this building for just under 5 years. For the most part, it was always secured despite looking tattered. On one snowy evening, my friend John and I noticed that the door was wide open, and we wandered inside. The bones were in relatively good shape, but there wasn't much ornament left inside the structure, and to my surprise, no trace of former bowling alleys. This is a one-of-a-kind structure on a threwfare that's seen it all. Humble beginnings as a pool hall becoming a neighborhood staple for working people and their families. The aftermath of the rebellion in 1967.

[00:08:39]Detroit's transitional changes that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. And standing tall in a neighborhood that saw rappers like Dex Osama change the game and Cash Doll come back to promote her 2023 mixtape back on Dexter with a photo shoot at a Eagle's Coney Island. The Dexter Recreation and Market Center deserves to be saved. I can't think of another building like it in Detroit.

[00:09:01]What would you turn it into if it were up to you? If you enjoyed this, please throw a like on the video. Drop a comment about what you'd like to do with a building like this if you had the money, and subscribe for a new video every Friday. If you've already subscribed and want to continue supporting the channel, you can look in the description below to make a donation, buy a t-shirt or a hat, or get a photo print from my print shop. Until next time, this building matters.