The International Candlepin Bowling Association (ICBA) website states that candlepin bowling was first played in 1880 in Worcester, Massachusetts, thought to have been developed by Justin White, owner of a billiards and bowling hall.
A 1987 Sports Illustrated article stated the game was invented in 1881 in that town by one John J. Monsey, a billiards player, who is recognized for standardizing the game. An 1891 newspaper notice shows the incremental introduction of a single “candle-pin bowling set” into a bowling alley originally hosting other types of bowling.
In 1906, Monsey created the National Duckpin and Candlepin Congress, which regulated ball size, pin shape and size, and lane surface characteristics, facilitating formation of leagues and other competitions.
Originally, pins were inch-thick dowels, resembling candles, thought to give rise to the name, candlepins. An 1888 newspaper article referred to 2-inch thick pins. Both were thinner than modern candlepins which are specified to be 2+15⁄16 inches (74.6 mm) thick. In the late 1960s plastic candlepins began to replace wood candlepins, a change that some thought required a change in game strategy.
In 1947, lawyers Howard Dowd and Lionel Barrow overcame the need for human pinsetters by inventing the first automatic candlepin pinsetter, called the “Bowl-Mor”, the two inventors receiving a patent that issued in 1956.