Antique Kansas City Billiard table
In the fall of 2000, I decided I needed an antique pool table for my home that I was planning to build in Payson, Arizona. Since I knew little about antique tables or period billiard decor, I contacted the Brunswick Corporation for advice on old tables. They advised me that the best historian on Brunswick Corporation and billiard tables as well as a renowned expert in table restorations was Joe Newell in Clay Center, Kansas. I contacted Joe and explained that I was building a home in the mountains of Arizona and wanted a table to match the western surroundings. After a six-month search, Joe sent me pictures of an un-restored Kansas City Billiard table with marquetry hunting scenes set in the cabinet of the table. These same scenes were found in Brunswick catalogs in the early 1900s. While I wanted a Brunswick Table, Joe explained, Kansas City Billiard Table Manufacturing Company was founded at the turn of the 20th century and later was purchase by Brunswick in 1915. I committed to buying the Kansas City Billiard table.
My plans to move to Arizona were delayed and the table set un-restored in Joe’s warehouse for several years. Finally, I called Joe and said restore the table and bring it to my home in Indiana. In the spring of 2005 Joe and Gloria Newell delivered the table to my home in Anderson Indiana. The pictures that follow show the evolution of my billiard room from its beginning in Indiana to what it is today.
Joe Newell installing the Kansas City Billiard table in Indiana.
Joe Newell has been a good friend and advisor on Brunswick, billiard history and collecting ever since that day in 2005.
In the fall of 2007, we moved to Arizona. Joe and Gloria came to Arizona and set up the Kansas City Billiard table in our current home. The pictures that follow are of the Kansas City billiard table in my Arizona home. Notice how the billiard room has evolved from its beginning in Indiana. The cue rack and ball racks are all Kansas City Billiard Table Manufacturing. The billiard table light was designed to complement the table.
Son Todd the Trick Shot Artist
“I will bet you can’t make this shot”
My wife Carol, “The Sharp Shooter”, in skill and looks.
A bit of satire on big game hunting when the pool tournament was over. Lucky Bubba didn’t bite him.
In the spring of 2015, My Narraganset table restoration was nearly complete. I had to make a decision. Which do I keep the Kansas City Billiard table or the Narraganset?
The Kansas City Billiard table went to a fine home in Texas and the Narraganset is now in my billiard room. The Kansas City Billiard cue racks and ball racks are gone and the Billiard light has changed. Maybe I should have somehow kept both tables. What do you think???
