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Bowl-O-Drome
Located at 198 E. Market St. The Bowl-O-Drome was an eight-lane alley with a snack bar in the back. The original owner had a big dog that walked around the building and rode in his Jeep which was called King’s coach. The dog’s name was King. Anyone who bowled there remembers King.
According to records found on Facebook, thanks to the Seneca County Historical Society, it opened November 24, 1941. It was owned by a guy named “Kibby.” Not sure of his real name. Other research shows it closed in 1977 after changing ownership sometime in the mid-sixties to a family named Company.
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May 16, 2021 – Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post.
Vintage Photo of the Day – Speaking of bowling alleys, today’s vintage photo is a view of the old Bowl-O-Drome bowling alley on E. Market Street in Tiffin. This bowling alley closed around 1978. This photo was taken in the early 1980’s when it was closed and the building was being advertised for lease.
Link to Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post –> Here
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April 24, 2013 – Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post.
Vintage Photo of the Day – Here’s a view looking west on East Market Street at the “Bowl A Drome” which was located where Riverbend Apartments are now. The Bowl A Drome was opened way back in 1941 and operated until around 1978.
Link to Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post –> Here
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November 28, 2021 – Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post.
Vintage Ad of the Day – Today’s vintage ad comes from a 1967 Aurora Heidelberg yearbook and it’s for the Bowl-O’-Drome at 198 E. Market Street in Tiffin. This is a great photo that gives us a view of the lanes and the Bowl-O’-Drome sign on the far wall. The Bowl-O’-Drome opened on November 24th, 1941 and operated until around 1978.
Link to Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post –> Here
Click on image to enlarge
November 26, 2013 – Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post.
On November 24th in Seneca County History – November 24th, 1941 – The newspaper announced the grand opening of “Tiffin’s Newest Bowling Alley” called the “Bowl O’ Drome” on East Market Street. Today’s photo shows an early view of the Bowl O’ Drome with the Bowl O’ Drome Restaurant next door.
Link to Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post –> Here
Click on image to enlarge
August 15, 2023 – Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post.
Vintage Photo of the Day – We recently discovered an invoice for the Bowl-O-Drone & Bowl-O-Bar located at 198 E. Market Street in Tiffin, Ohio. The invoice said that they did “Ball Drilling”, they had “Bowling Bags & Shoes” and Tom Company was the proprietor at that time. We added a photo of the Bowl-O-Drone below the invoice. The Bowl-O’-Drome opened on November 24th, 1941 and operated until around 1978. Today, the old bowling alley is gone and this is where the University Center Apartments are located.
Link to Seneca County Historical Society Facebook post –> Here
The image below came from the March 18-19, 1976 edition of the Advertiser-Tribune. This tells us Bowl-O-Drome was still open in March of 1976.
We modified the image to show the section on the BBIT tournament, which was a big thing back then. We are curious to see how this turned out when we do further research.
Also, you notice a name in that article; Tom Company Jr. Tom would be a great addition to this project as he was a part of this establishment.
We would welcome anything Tom would like to submit.
NOTE: All images on this website are collected in several ways. To give proper citation, they come from the following sources; Tiffin Seneca Public Library digital library, various editions of the Advertiser-Tribune, Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter, The Tiffin Historical Society, and random individuals who scanned or photographed what they may have. We will cite pictures as we post them and if someone wants to remain anonymous, we will respect that as well.
This site is
Follow the links on the left to each Bowling Alley. The top link “How we got here” explains how this project and site came about. Under each bowling alley we will document the history of each establishment and add whatever memorabilia is submitted in our History / Records / Scrapbook section, along with what we know we already have.
Anyone wishing to submit a picture, scan, or article please reply to submissions@tiffinbowlinghistory.org. General questions or communication can be done through tiffinbowlinghistory@gmail.com.