On October 8th 1917 the Needham Bowlaway opened for the First time. Prior to it's grand opening, the ad pictured above ran in the papers, stating that the alleys were the best procurible and they invited your inspection. The ad also stated that they had special days for Women as well as a furnished room (bathroom) for Women only. At the time this was considered very progressive, since back then most Women were not even allowed to participate in sports, and if a Man somehow saw a Woman participating in a sport it was considered indecent.

The Bowlaway opened with 6 lanes. Where the first 2 lanes are now, there were originally pool tables. Sometime in the 40's they added an additional 2 lanes which make up the 8 we have today. At the time 8 lanes were considered a decent size. In the 50's the machines were put in, originally the Bowlaway had pinboys setting up the pins as shown in the picture below.

In the summer of 2002, Liz, the manager of the Bowlaway was cleaning out an old closet for a space for our new computer systems, when she came across an old newspaper all crumpled up. When uncrumpled it read at the top, The Boston post Thursday June 28th 1917. This was a newspaper from the summer before the Bowlaways Grand opening in October of 1917. The paper must have been left behind by the people who built the lanes.