History of the Ridgway Rifle Club

In 1927 the Ridgway Rifle and pistol Club was founded.  The name was changed to the Ridgway Rifle Club in 1935.

The first outdoor range was located on the bottom of Grant Rd.  In 1937 this land was taken into the borough and the citizen's started complaining about the shooting that was going on in the borough on the weekends.  The club was then offered a trade:  the Swiss Club Range (as it was known) at the bottom of Grant Rd., plus $800.00, for the present Rifle Club property.  The sale of it took place the same year.

The members of the club started right in on putting in the outdoor range, and finished it during World War II.  After the war with the young men returning home, the membership and the interest in outdoor target shooting grew rapidly.

The talk of an indoor range being built started way back in 1937, too.  At the time, the only indoor shooting took place in the basement of Coultier Studies, now Davido's Pool Hall, which the club rented until a flood forced them out.  They then rented space in Lootie's Bowling Alley's basement, now Aielleo's.  In 1940 or 1941 they got the use of the Masonic Temple for their indoor range.  The rent at the time was $10.00 a month.  The talk of building their own indoor range still went on, but nothing was actually done about getting it underway until around 1950 or 1953.  It was at this time that the Game Commission told the club that they could cut pulp wood off the game lands and sell it to the paper mill to raise money.  The men cut the wood, loaded their trucks, transported the wood to the mill, and unloaded it for about $8.00 a cord.  In the two winters of cutting and hauling they made a total of $1,500.00.  They found they couldn't raise enough to start the construction of the building so the $1,500.00 was used to start their building fund.  The money was not to be used for anything but building purposes, but somehow through the years, the funds disappeared.

Phone : 814-772-6510