In 1885 Anthony Kleinhans bought the old Dann House, an earlier resort hotel, along the lakeshore, and moved it back to the Long Pond outlet to use as a carriage house. He then built the Grand View Beach Hotel. That hotel was destroyed by fire in 1947.
In 1948 Harry Boehm, the current owner of the building, remolded the decades old Dann House and opened it as a restaurant. In 1950 he built additions including a bowling alley. By the early 1960s it changed hands and became Ames Tavern and Bowling Center.
The early 1960s also saw the construction of nearby modern bowling halls like Terrice Gardens, Dewey Gardens and Maiden Lanes with air conditioning and automatic pin setters. These new bowling halls were too much competition for small neighborhood bowling establishments like Ames.
In 1972 the owners closed the place and soon stopped paying taxes. A year later an attempt was made to reopen the old place, but neighbors objected, stating that the establishment had created a general nuisance in the past. Its fate was sealed when town inspectors found numerous code violations. Monroe County eventually acquired the property through default of taxes and then transferred ownership to the Town of Greece. In October 1978, after a partial fire and concerns for public safety, the Town of Greece, using a grant of $5,000, eventually demolished the century old building.
Today nothing remains of the old place but the memories of the neighbors and those who patronized it.
Bill Sauers is a lifelong resident of the Town of Greece and has been an active member of the Greece Historical Society since 1998, serving as the president since 2007. He is a retired engineer technician for the City of Rochester, and a retired US Army Sergeant Major. He has a special interest in early aviation in Rochester.