C. P. Dean had a rich history of bowling back in the day. While I was not around in the early 1900s, I can only imagine C. P. Dean was one of the only places to buy bowling equipment in Richmond at that time. The big sign on Broad Street would surely make me stop in there if I were shopping for a bowling ball.
C. P. Dean’s time manufacturing billiards was short lived, only truly fully crafting them in the late 1800s after C. P. Dean’s incorporation in 1886. In the early 1900s, Brunswick was crafting high quality billiards tables and Charles chose to partner with Brunswick, using Brunswick tables with C. P. Dean name plates as their pool table offering.
In 1890, Moses Bensinger, the President of The Brunswick Balke Collender Company, noticed the rising sport of bowling in America and decided to begin manufacturing bowling balls. Since Brunswick mostly manufactured pool tables and bowling balls, it only made sense for C. P. Dean to begin selling bowling balls as well. (If you are looking to learn more about Brunswick’s rich history. Check out this link! https://americanbusinesshistory.org/billiards-bowling-and-boating-175-years-of-brunswick/)
In 1982, Gene Taylor started West End Trophies & Billiards with some buddies and William Selden let West End Trophies have the bowling business. Rubber bowling balls smell BAD when they are drilled and the scent stunk up the entire service area. C. P. Dean stayed focused on what they did best - billiards. When Gene and the West End Trophies crew joined The C. P. Dean family again in 2022, he also brought back bowling - thankfully with a much better smell this time with resin balls!
Our store now has over two dozen balls in stock, tons of shoes, bags, and general accessories. We have even started personalizing bags, towels, and buffers. We hope you will come join us in our store and come get your ball drilled to perfection by Gene. He is typically in the store three days a week and can measure your hand and drill your ball on the spot.
We are excited to bring back another indoor sport to our offerings and the full circle feel of the product line brings a nice perspective to the showroom.
All the best,
Sarah
