Voelker's Bowling Alley demolished after standing in North Buffalo for over 100 years
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Voelker's Bowling Alley started being demolished on Tuesday after standing in North Buffalo for over 100 years.
The bowling alley, located at the corner of Amherst Street and Elmwood Avenue, opened its doors in 1892. It held a lot of memories for many people in Buffalo, especially bowlers who lived in the neighborhood.
"It always had leaky roofs and such. It's just sad, you know?" said Jethro Soudant, who stopped by the site after seeing demolition crews.
Soudant joined a bowling league 15 years ago at Voelker's. His league now bowls at Kenmore Lanes on Kenmore Avenue.
"I was just driving by and I saw the fence around the outside, which is new. I'm always looking to see if there's any changes," he said. "I said, 'Let me poke around back and see what's happening back there,' and I was surprised to see the interior is mostly down at this point."
"Kenmore Lanes is right up the road and it's still a great bowling alley," he said. "It's sad people don't go out and engage in the great sport of bowling anymore."
After the bowling alley closed down in 2021, the building became an eyesore in the neighborhood. In recent years, there was a lot of back and forth over what to do with the site.
Last year, the Buffalo Planning Board approved a project to develop it into a mixed-use site. Buffalo Common Councilmember Joe Golombek said he is sad to see the building get torn down, especially after there was a huge push to preserve the building, or at least parts of it.
"It's bittersweet in many regards," he said. "The building has a lot of memories for people from their community and from their neighborhood, but, you know, progress moves things forward and we have to fix up that corner. The bowling lanes were not coming back."
Golombek is excited for the future of the site, which will be turned into apartments and commercial space.
"I'm looking forward to something going on that corner and we do need apartments," Golombek said. "We do need apartments that are conducive for middle-income residents and I think that will be a good addition to the city of Buffalo in general, and that neighborhood in particular, because it will give us more density. I think that will help out the neighborhood and the businesses, etc."
Construction is expected to start in 2026.
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Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.