After more than 100 years, a historic bowling alley and social club in Boerne is now a non-smoking venue, and some locals say it’s about time.
“Have you heard?! The Boerne Turnverein is now a NO Smoking venue!” the business wrote in a social media post last weekend, on October 2.
“Finally!!!” Facebook user Cara Wall Peterson wrote underneath the post.
“About time!!” said another.
“Thank goodness! Now I will go,” Sharon D. Scott shared.
Another user thanked the bowling club and said he couldn’t wait to stop by for an ice-cold beer.
Boerne Turnverein is one of the last places in the United States where you can play the historic nine-pin bowling game.
The nine-pin game is part of the German-Texas tradition that early settlers helped popularize through their turnverein clubs. Nine-pin bowling has its own unique set of rules, setups, and old-school scorekeeping on whiteboards or chalkboards. To this day, there are only a handful of nine-pin alleys in places like San Antonio, Spring Branch and Guadalupe County.
The nine-pin game predates the now-standard 10-pin game favored in America, and it is rumored to have spread because anti-gambling legislation targeted nine-pin bowling taverns in the 1830s and 40s, according to the Texas State Historical Association. It’s widely reported that the 10th pin was added as a legal loophole.
Boerne Turnverein’s general manager was not available for comment before publication.
The term “turnverein” translates to a German gymnastics or athletic club. The club is was first organized by German immigrants in 1878, according to historic records, and later reorganized in 1890 and in 1906. According to the city of Boerne, it was fully incorporated more than 100 years ago.