THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

August 5, 1993

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            This ad appeared in the Waupaca County Post, for September 9, 1948:  “CENTRAL BOWLING ALLEYS now open. Alleys completely reconditioned and redecorated, come and try them out.”

            A couple of months later disaster struck.  It was in the early morning hours, in early November of 1948, that the Central Bowling Alleys, Tavern and Restaurant in Waupaca’s Third Ward was completely destroyed by fire.

            The fire, which started in the bowling alleys, spread so rapidly that it endangered the lives of the three families having living quarters in the upstairs in the building. Nothing was saved from the blaze, except the contents of the freight warehouse, which was the last to go.

            An unexplained explosion was believed to have caused the fire.  The people living in the bowling alley building were awakened when the explosion rocked the structure.

            The fire was believed to have started just before 2 a.m., and the alarm was turned in at 2:05.  By that time the blaze had a big start, and the occupants narrowly escaped with their lives.

            Meanwhile the fire department was experiencing difficulty in fighting the fire because of low water pressure from the fire hydrant.  The building was a mass of flames when the fire department arrived, and it was doubtful whether ideal fire-fighting conditions could have saved the structure.

            The bowling alleys had been covered with a chemical that was highly inflammable.  The flames literally raced down the alleys to the rear of the building.  This sent flames into a portion of the building containing highly explosive lacquers. All through the night cans of lacquer exploded, causing flames to shoot skyward, mushrooming somewhat like a miniature atomic bomb.

            It was feared at first that the County Post warehouse, filled with newsprint and other paper, would catch fire. A small portion of the roof did catch fire, but the wind shifted, and it was the freight warehouse that went instead. 

            The contents of the freight warehouse had been removed and piled across the street before it went up in flames.  The freight was later moved to several other storage places.  There was some water loss on some of the freight.

            The bowling alley building was still burning in the morning.  A small portion of the wall in front of the building on the restaurant side still stood.

            The strangest sight of the entire wreckage was the bowling balls, many of which were owned by local people and were kept in the lockers. The balls had been reduced to strange, black, round, square, oval and flat lumps.

            The bowling alley, tavern and restaurant was owned by partners Edward Vande Yacht and Alvin Sachs.  Adam Horle had leased the Central Restaurant for the winter months.

            Living in the quarters on the second floor of the building were Mr. and Mrs. Vande Yacht and their twin sons, Mr. and Mrs. Sachs and their two-month-old son, and Mr. and Mrs. Adam Horle and daughter.  All personal belongings of the three families were lost. The three families were all taken in by friends.

            Vande Yacht and Sachs had purchased the alleys from Jack Prossen of Milwaukee in March 1948, coming to Waupaca from Seymour where they had been cheesemakers.  During the short time they had made many improvements leading up to the 1948-49 bowling season.

            Action was taken at once to find places to bowl, so that the leagues that formerly bowled at the Central Alleys could complete their season.

            Al Martin, manager of the Uptown Alleys, said they would install two or three more lanes that would be ready in two weeks.  This would give the Uptown Alleys eight or nine alleys.

            The Young Men’s League was expected to roll at Manawa and the Jaycee League at Weyauwega.