Clinton (2,000?) Built 1936
February 16, 2026
I've always loved maps. When we would go on long road trips growing up I'd like to study the path we were on and look to see where the road would pass from one state into another and onto another page of the atlas. By the time I got to college and actually had a need for navigation in my own travels, the age of GPS had arrived. My in-laws bought me a Garmin which helped me find my way from Indiana Wesleyan to IUPUI each weekend to see my future wife. Now my phone tells me exactly were to turn as I traverse all over the state looking for gyms. I feel like I was robbed of a meaningful life experience, and once again I'm reminded that I was born in the wrong generation. Anyways, last fall I found an app where you can test your geography and map skills. There is one game where it gives you a blank map of Indiana with just the outlines of the counties, and you have to click on the correct county when given the name of one. I was hooked. It probably took me three weeks, but eventually I could locate every single county when given a completely blank map. Some of the counties took me forever to memorize, but a couple stuck out and became recognizable immediately. The most prominent one was definitely Vermillion. Vermillion County runs along the western edge of the state, and is sometimes known as the "shoestring county" due to the fact that is a mere 7 miles wide. It looks like Chile running along the western edge of South America. It's instantly recognizable on a map. My first and only visit to Vermillion County came a couple summers ago when I stopped by the old school and gym in Newport which is now a county library. I was anxious to go back and see more of this unique place. I finally had a reason and the time to stop by as I set off for the town of Clinton, tucked right inside the banks of the Wabash River.
I didn't even realize I was going to be visiting Vermillion County until I passed over the bridge entering Clinton and saw the sign. Most of my day was spent jetting all over Terre Haute checking out fading gyms and a couple other reviewable ones. Clinton was my one little detour, and I hadn't thought about the fact that it was outside Vigo County. Clinton isn't a bustling metropolis by any means, but it's a bigger town than I was expecting. It's large enough that I was initially surprised that it wasn't able to keep its own high school during the consolidation boom. After doing a little bit of research, I realized that it actually had kept its high school, sort of. In 1961, the surrounding communities of Hillsdale, Dana, and St. Bernice (which was torn down just a week before I was set to go see it in one of the greatest heartbreaks I've experienced while gym hunting so far) all had their high schools absorbed into Clinton. Clinton kept it's name and it's high school until 1977. At that time it was decided that a new and more modern high school was needed, so they built one on the north side of town. When they built the new school, it was given the name of South Vermillion, which makes sense considering it really was a consolidation of four different original high schools, but it's just odd that the name change didn't happen when the three other schools were originally absorbed. There are plenty of examples of small schools getting absorbed into bigger city schools, but in almost all cases, the school name either changed immediately, or the big city kept their school name forever. I can't think of another example where the city school kept their name originally, but then lost it many years later even though no additional consolidations were made. I guess constructing a brand new high school building is good time to do it, but it's still an odd piece of history, which I always love to find!
Once Clinton High School closed, the old building was used for many years as a middle school before it was eventually torn down. Thankfully, the cavernous old gym was spared. For a couple decades now the Clinton gym has operated as a community center. I first saw pictures of it a year or two ago, and I was blown away. I've talked before about how certain gyms that haven't been altered much since their inception can really act as time machines, and this certainly looked like one of them. I quickly moved it to the top of the list of gyms I had to see. It took me long enough, but I finally made it back in February. I was originally planning on going to watch the throwback game that South Vermillion plays here every year, but when I realized it wasn't going to work with my schedule and that I was going to be in Terre Haute anyways, I set up the visit. When I walked inside, I knew the high expectations I had for it were going to be met. It's no surprise that this place not only hosted many sectional tournaments, but even a few regionals over the years. The Clinton Wildcats won a good amount of those tournaments, 22 sectionals and 4 regionals to be exact. I'd kill to have seen some of those postseason games in this gym. Even today you can sense that it would have curated an electric environment.
I've visited a lot of horseshoe style gyms over the past few years, but Clinton is up there with my favorites (Winslow, Michigan City Elston, Decatur, and the old Lebanon gym also come to mind). There are ten rows of beautiful permanent wooden bleachers that surround the court on three sides, with a beautiful stage running along the fourth. The first nine rows of bleachers sit on on pretty little metal risers and are stained a classic gold color. The tenth row is a more traditional bench seat that runs along the very top of the bleachers. There are ancient HVAC units interspersed throughout this top row. The main entrance to the gym is along the baseline opposite of the stage. The grand old wooden doors are still intact and look great. The doors are pretty tall, so there are aren't any traditional bleachers above them, but there's a little standing area with a metal jut-out. I'm not sure if this is where the band would play, but these kinds of jut-outs were typically buit for band directors to stand in, so it's definitely possible that was what this area was used for. Above the bleachers on all three sides are some of the biggest old windows you'll find in any gym. They're in the shape of what I guess you would call a half-oval. They were all filled in at some point to help with heating and cooling costs which is very common. As incredible as this gym is even today, it would have even been that much more special to see this place with the original windows intact and natural light shining through. Up by the windows hang the old three-sided seating section markers which are really neat.
The wall that spans the baseline opposite of the main entrance to the gym feels very grand. The brick used throughout the gym is a light tan color instead of the typical dark brick which helps give it that effect. The stage is outlined by a slightly different brick which gives it a little more definition. A dark blue curtain across the top. To the left and right of the stage, high up on the walls, are some old windows that presumably look into some upper rooms behind them. They're a little unique in that regard. There are more gorgeous old wooden doors in corners here that lead to a concession stand and the locker rooms below. The bleachers in these corners are also built up a little behind a five foot wall. Some old scoreboards hang from the rafters facing the sidelines which is an odd placement you don't see very often. The hardwood court is stained a very light color, and they've kept the old Wildcat logo at center court which looks as fearsome as ever. I'm not sure how old the scorer's bench is, but it's one of the nicer ones I've seen in a gym this old.
Walking outside and looking at the gym straight on, it feels massive. I'm guesstimating the seating capacity at around 2,000, but I wouldn't be surprised if they squeezed in a few hundred more come tournament time each year. When I said earlier that the place feels cavernous, I meant it in the best way possible. It was built to host big games and be filled with large crowds. It did that into the late 70s which is a lot longer than most gyms built in the 30s. I'm thrilled that South Vermillion still plays a game here each year, and I'm still going to try and come back for it when I can. More schools with old gyms in good shape need to make the same effort. Vermillion County continues to be a place that stands out to me. Whether for its shape, its basketball gyms, or for whatever else I may find that it has to offer, I think it will keep me coming back.
