Brookville (3,000) Built 1957
October 15, 2025
I've written about a few deep emotions I've had while visiting old gyms across the state over the last few years. One of them just being awe, and feeling like you're standing on hallowed ground. This was the case in the old Lebanon, Peru, and Vincennes Lincoln gyms. Another is just profound sadness, like I found in the old Cannelton gym. I've found good ole fashioned nostalgia on numerous occasions, when you just long for a time that is no more. The end of my trek down into southeast Indiana over fall break took me to Franklin County, and two gyms that unearthed a profound feeling in me that was distinctly different than these, but related at the same time. It was a deep appreciation for two communities that felt special for some reason, Two communities that had distinct heritages and traditions. Two communities that had stood the test of time, and defied the odds in the age of consolidation and held on to their schools, if for a moment. You see, the second side part of that profound feeling was genuine anger due to unnecessary loss. Anger that something was stripped away, even after it felt that it couldn't be taken away. That two-sided coin of appreciation and anger was felt for the communities in Brookville and Laurel. Two places I visited back to back that invoked a soul stirring emotion in me that I still am having a hard time describing four months later. Talking about basketball gyms in such a dramatic way feels silly at times, but if you've decided to take time out of your day to read a blog about one, then maybe you're one of the few people who understands where I'm coming from.
Part of the reason I was maybe feeling a little more sentimental than usual might have had to do with the drive into Franklin County. My trusty GPS took me on a single winding county road from Moores Hill all the way to Brookville. The terrain rose and fell gracefully for 45 straight minutes through an endless woodland, right as the leaves were starting to change colors. Keep your California Redwoods, your Tennessee Rocky Mountain high views, your Florida sun, I'm choosing all of the nature Indiana has to offer every single time. It was out-of-this world breathtaking. When I finally arrived in Brookville, talked to a couple people, and learned the history of Franklin County schools, my sensitivity towards the uniqueness of this place only heightened. Since the dawn of "modern" high schools in the 1920s, there were basically just four in Franklin County: Springfield Township, Whitewater Township, Laurel, and Brookville. When everybody in the state consolidated in the 60s, Springfield Township was quickly absorbed into Brookville. When a few more remaining stragglers consolidated in the 70s, Whitewater Township was also axed. Laurel and Brookville, two small towns in their own rights, had survived! They had maintained their independence despite the stacked odds against them, or so it seemed. At the very end of the 80s, their good fortune for whatever reason finally ran out. The decision to consolidate Brookville and Laurel into Franklin County was made, and even after talking to a few people from both towns, I never got a firm reason on why. It's still unclear. What is very clear is how rare this situation was. If you made it to the 1980s as a small town school in Indiana, you were statistically safe. Consolidation was seemingly a thing of the past. Looking back at every single county, the only other similar situations I could find in the 80s were Staunton, Brazil, and Van Buren Township forming Northview. L&M and Worthington forming White River Valley. Rosedale and Montezuma forming Riverton Parke. It was almost unheard of, yet it happened here, and people who lived through still seem a little shocked.
Brookville was the bigger (in relative terms) school of the two, and it kind of feels that way in the aftermath of how things shook out. The new high school was built in Brookville. The old Brookville high school and gym are still used by the school system and house the administration offices. They also had a little more postseason success playing in the vaunted Connersville sectional. They managed to capture 10 sectional titles and 1 regional championship in the single class era. The gym they played in is also bigger as well. Because the consolidation happened so recently (again, relatively speaking), it kind of feels like someone abruptly left their home without taking anything with them, and it looks the same today as it did back then, only with a few more layers of dust. The Brookville gym I walked into felt like it could host a varsity basketball game that night without no prior notice needed.
The gym ironically holds more in common with the consolidation era gyms of the mid-60s than it does with it's fellow small town school gyms that popped up everywhere in the 50s and only hosted varsity games for about a decade. Along one side is a mammoth set of retractable wooden bleachers that go up `18 rows. They span wall to wall and are a sight to behold. They're stained a gorgeous dark mahogany color and have green lines where the steps would be if they were pulled out. The font used for the seat numbers is pretty neat as well. The opposite side is slightly more funky. There are four short rows of retractable blue plastic bleachers, then a glass partition, and then a slightly raised level with about 14 more rows of retractable wooden bleachers that match the opposite side. I've never seen anything quite like it. There are also small little rectangular windows sitting horizontally above the big sections of bleachers on both sides.
One of the baseline walls is fairly bare except for a couple of flags and the old peghole ladders of death that have tortured P.E. students for decades. The opposing side doesn't have much, but there is a nice state semifinalist banner for I believe wrestling, right next to a neat old wrestling record board (maybe that's what you would call it? I know next to nothing about that sport). The playing floor here is simple but delightful. It is stained a light-gold color throughout. At half court is the Greyhound logo inside the center circle. "Home of the Greyhounds 1957-1989" is written in green lettering around it. It's a really nice little homage to the history of the place. "Brookville" is written across each baseline in big clear letters set against a thick green background as well. It looks old and perfect.
Walking out of the gym, I found myself in a little lobby with a couple more reminders of what this place must have been like before consolidation struck so late in the game. There's a little concession window, some smaller team pictures from a couple different sports, and walls made of two different types of cinder blocks. It reminded me of how all the old gym hallways used to look when I was a kid before they got remodeled in recent years. It gave me a similar feeling to when I visited Maconaquah and Mississinewa for the first time. Those places were overflowing with 70s and 80s nostalgia. The best parts here are a couple of giant framed photos of old sectional and regional winning basketball teams. I think these brought out the feeling I was trying to describe earlier in me the most. These were teams that represented their community well. A community that loved those teams and showed it by filling this gym Friday night after Friday night. A community that deserved the chance to do that for a lot longer, and had that opportunity taken away from them. It didn't sit right with me when I visited, and it bothers me even more now as I write this a few months later and am thinking about it all over again. It doesn't really matter though. Time moves on, and it doesn't care if you wallow in the past or not. All we have left are these gyms and the memories they hold within them. Those memories still matter though, and I hope people keep them alive by not letting the stories die out.
