Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

Tue., March 20, 2012

By Jim Kershner jimkershner@comcast.net

From our archives, 100 years ago

The pastor of the Vincent Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane made a startling suggestion: opening a pool-and-billiards hall in the church’s parish house.

The pastor was responding to an increasing outcry about the dangerous fad of young men playing pool. The common argument (later immortalized in “The Music Man”) was that this game led to trouble with a capital T because it lured young men to “questionable resorts,” which meant, essentially, saloons, cigar stores and brothels.

So the pastor made a perfectly logical argument: If the problem was with the “resorts,” why not let young men play these games in more wholesome surroundings? He proposed opening a club in the parish hall that had pool tables, a reading room and a gym. Pool couldn’t possibly be harmful if played “under Christian auspices.”

“If we sanction checkers, croquet and baseball, why should we draw the line on billiards or pool?” asked the pastor.

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