Momence investigators are investigating a fire Saturday in the 100 block of Gladiolus Street that destroyed the long-closed Red Cedar Lanes bowling alley.

Momence Fire Protection District Chief Jim Spoon said the decades-old building had been vacant for eight years.

The eight-lane alley had been closed since 2017.

Momence Police Chief Patrick Siemsen said the department is investigating the fire. He said the department had not had any calls of service to the building this year but had in previous years.

Spoon said there was trouble with a door on the north side of the building that allowed people to force it open.

So far this year, Spoon said the department has fought five structure fires.

One of those fires was in February, which destroyed the Gilster-Mary Lee, production facility.

The Chester, Illinois-based company produces a variety of food products for private labels, often generic store brands.

The Momence site produced hot chocolate mixes, chocolate, caramel- and strawberry-flavored syrups, and tiny marshmallows for mixes.

Seventy people lost their jobs when the company decided not to rebuild.

Spoon said firefighters from 16 or 17 departments battled the bowling alley blaze that was called into 911 dispatch about 1:45 a.m. They were on-scene until 6 a.m.

Flames were shooting through the wood truss roof, which collapsed into the building, Spoon said.

The walls of the building were knocked down for safety reasons as firefighters sprayed water on the remains, Spoon said.

Spoon remembered bowling at the lanes growing up.

“My dad took me there when I was a kid. It was actually one of the last bowling alleys that had actual wood lanes.”

It was located on Gladiolus Street just south of the Circle K convenience store/gas station.

In June, Johnsonville Foods, a longtime business mainstay on the north side of Momence, abruptly closed

Officials from the Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin-based company informed a plant-wide gathering of employees on June 2 it was immediately closing. The closure eliminated 274 jobs.