MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Road names can tell you a lot about what to expect when driving down them.

When heading down Water Street, you should expect at some point to see a body of water of some sort.

You can expect to pass by the “main” part of town when driving down Main Street.

McMinnville Hwy takes you to McMinnville, Woodbury Hwy takes you to Woodbury, and Murfreesboro Hwy takes you to Murfreesboro, eventually.

Just off New Tullahoma Hwy (Hwy 55), going to, you guessed it, Tullahoma, there’s a road whose name doesn’t immediately make a lot of sense.

When you turn onto Bowling Alley Road from Hwy 55, the first thing you see is Thompson Machinery. If you go down a little further there are several houses to pass by and plenty of trees and shrubbery.

There’s one thing that seems to be missing from Bowling Alley Road, though: a bowling alley.

To find that, you have to look over 60 years into Manchester’s past.

In 1956 a company named Manchester Recreation Inc. announced that it would be building a $250,000 (equivalent to $2.9 million in 2024) recreation facility that would include an 18-hole miniature golf course, a golf driving range, and what as touted as Tennessee’s first fully automatic bowling alleys.

The facility offered luxuries such as air conditioning, automatic pin-setting equipment, locker rooms, refreshment facilities, and “ample spectator capacity.” The bowling alley also featured the “newly perfected” telescore system which projected each players’ score on a screen.

The driving range, miniature golf course, and a playground area were opened to the public in April of 1956 and the 10-lane bowling alley followed in September.

In celebration of the opening, professional bowler Tom Hennessey gave an exhibition at the newly opened bowling alley.

The facility became known as Plamor and the bowling alley was referred to as Plamor Lanes.

Retired Lt. Col. Fred J. Stacey served as the President and Managing Director of Manchester Recreation Inc. after resigning from the Air Force.

He oversaw the construction of the facility and even hosted a weekly radio show out of Plamor where he played the popular songs of the day and interviewed interesting residents of Manchester.

Stacey resigned from his position with Manchester Recreation Inc. in Nov. of 1956 due to health issues and A.J. Tanner, a local plumbing and heating contractor, took over the role of president.

Plamor became a popular spot for children’s birthday parties and church gatherings.

Several bowling leagues played at the Plamor Lanes including men’s, women’s, mixed, Pee Wee, and church leagues.

Bowling became so prominent in Manchester that the Manchester Times featured a weekly column titled “Bobbie’s Pins” written by Bobbie England, a regular at Plamor, that recapped all of the scores and league play for the week.

A local bowler named Garland Ingle from Winchester, an employee at the time of Arnold Air Force Base, made history in late 1957 as the first bowler to play a perfect 300-point game at the Plamor Lanes. It was also Ingle’s first perfect game.

Over time, though, the bowling alley failed to prosper financially for its investors and closed in 1962 after only six years.

According to an article in the Times from that year, the business made enough money each year to pay its obligations but the nearly 60 stockholders never received any dividends from the venture.

One of the directors from Manchester Recreation Inc., Robert Dietz, was quoted as saying, “It’s a sad announcement to make, but practical financial considerations dictated that we had to do it.”

The greatly hyped pin-setting equipment and alleys were sold to an Indiana bowling center, and the building that housed the facility still stands to this day and serves as the local operating center for Thompson Machinery.

So there may no longer be a bowling alley to be found on Bowling Alley Road, but the name stands as a reminder of a decidedly short yet exciting time in Manchester’s history.