ST. LOUIS – Back in the day, professional bowlers like Dick Weber and Ray Bluth ruled America's lanes. Calling St. Louis home was natural for their team – the Buds, which was named for the city's iconic Budweiser beer.

Photos by JEFF ROBERSON/The Associated Press

John Weggenmann Jr. (left) and his father, John Weggenmann Sr., view a representation of King Henry VIII bowling at the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame.

So when boosters sought a home for a bowling museum, the choice was obvious. The International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame opened downtown nearly 25 years ago next to Busch Stadium, in the shadow of the Gateway Arch.

But the 21st century hasn't been kind to the shrine, which celebrates a pastime rooted in ancient civilization but whose appeal probably peaked in the 1950s and '60s. Come October, the museum will move to a more modern setting that unites the sport's key trade groups in Arlington.

"All of us are sad," said Craig Mathews Sr., a suburban fire district captain who edits The Bowling News, an industry paper based in St. Louis. "This was the bowling capital of the world."

Despite its location next to a baseball park that regularly sells out and in a city whose sports fans are considered among the nation's most devoted, attendance at the museum has hovered under 30,000 annually, said executive director Gerald Baltz.

And many of those comparatively few visitors are attracted by the St. Louis Cardinals' hall of fame, which shares space with the bowling museum.

Those woes were on full display before a recent midweek Cardinals game, when more than 40,000 fans packed Busch Stadium but only a handful could be found in the bowling museum. The idle time allowed a museum employee working in a public area to take a nap as Mr. Baltz, accompanied by a reporter, walked past.

In Arlington, the museum will be part of a development that includes the U.S. Bowling Congress, the sport's governing body for amateurs, and the Bowling Proprietors Association of America, an industry group for bowling-alley owners.

This cluster, in turn, will be part of the entertainment district that includes Six Flags Over Texas and the Dallas Cowboys' new billion-dollar stadium.

"They very much wanted us to join them," Mr. Baltz said of Arlington. "We agreed it would be very good for us and the industry."

Alan Scher Zagier,

The Associated Press