Erica O’Neal

Managing Editor

CORDELE– The Cordele Recreation Parlor, otherwise known as the Pool Room is still going through repairs and clean up after a fire occurred in the storefront on Saturday, January 6. The fire was ruled accidental and was started by a hot dog steamer left on overnight.

The pool tables within the store survived the fire and upon moving the tables to do work on the floor, the owner, Randy Bridges discovered some valuable history.

“We found out that the tables are Brunswick tables, and they’re the Randolph series. When we took them apart we found a date stamped of April 21, 1931. The guy told us ‘look, these tables are very valuable. These are a special series table.’ They’re all bought as a group, as a unit. We found out there’s a lot of history here,” Bridges said.

Bridges does not have an exact estimate of when rebuilding will be completed, but said that he’s hoping rebuilding will begin within the next two weeks.

Bridges plans to keep as much of the Pool Room the same as it was before and is salvaging whatever can still be saved and used. The flooring had to be replaced, but Bridges was able to salvage the marble inside. We will continue to follow up on the Pool Room’s progress.