Hazleton (500?) Built 1937
June 13, 2025
June 13, 2025
Just this last month, something happened for the first time since I started this blog. A gym that I once visited to photograph was torn down in Jonesboro. Well, it was actually a school that had some big classrooms that were utilized as a gym before a bigger one was eventually built, but since it held high school games, it counts! I had first driven by the old school over a decade ago when I was making my weekly trip from Indiana Wesleyan to Eaton Elementary to complete a teaching practicum. When I started this blog two years ago, I thought back to it, but from the outside looking in, it didn't seem like it housed a gym. Many schools that were built from 1900-1940 had gyms added on to them after the initial the school was built. With schools that actually did have a gym built at the same time as the school, it's usually pretty obvious which portion of the building was the gym. Sometimes though everything looks much more seamless, and it's hard to tell if there is a gym or not just by looking at the exterior. Like Jonesboro, sometimes the gym was really just a big assembly hall within the school that had high ceilings. Many times the gyms were actually in the basement of the school. Other times the gyms are pretty normal, you just couldn't really tell until you stepped inside. This was the case with a gym I found in the northern-most part of Gibson County.
Hazleton (yes I am spelling it correctly) isn't a place you're going to just stumble upon by accident. Situated on the banks of the White River, it's nestled right up against the water. US-40 sends cars flying right past it, but you wouldn't know you were going by it unless you were looking for it. Lucky for me, on this stormy June afternoon, I was. State Road 56 weaves towards it in one of the strangest routes you'll ever see a state road take if you're looking at a map. Driving into town, there's not much left from the days when the place was a bustling center of commerce. There are a couple old buildings still standing, though most of them are empty. My guide for the visit told me one of of them is slated to be razed soon, falling victim to the same fate of so many other old buildings in town. The biggest and one of the oldest landmarks still hanging on is the old Hazleton school and gym. It was built in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project. It's a beautiful two story brick building that looks grand and large for a town this size. It was home to the Hazleton Lions until 1963 when they joined forces with Patoka to form the very short-lived White River High School. Princeton absorbed White River just a few years later (at which point the school was supposed to don the moniker of North Gibson High School, but in a very contentious turn of events, the people in power at Princeton managed to retain their own name, much to the chagrin of the people living in the outlying towns). The Lions only managed to win one sectional, but my what a sectional (and regional) title it was! In 1933 the team went 27-2, rattled off 26 straight wins, beat the county power Princeton THREE times, and advanced all the way to the semi-state round. Their season ended at the hands of the Bedford Stonecutters in a close game that was largely decided by two errant calls by the officials late in the game. Even the opposing coach afterwards admitted that Hazleton probably should have been victorious. I'm always been one who can't stand blaming referees for losses, but in some rare cases, it can be warranted. This seems like it may have been one of those times. That team played a few years before the gym I visited was built, but you can still feel the spirit of the Hazleton Tiger tradition strongly inside it.
After Hazleton lost its high school, the building was still used for a little while as an elementary. It was then converted into a factory for many years. These days it is owned by a local church that uses it for youth and other community events. When the the factory moved in, the original basketball hoops were pulled out along with the floor of the stage and one section of bleachers. This gets pretty close to the line where I don't really consider a gym "reviewable" and it slides into the Fading Gyms category. I just felt like there was still enough here to get a feel for what it must have felt and looked like back in its heyday. The gym has a little bit of a unique set up. There are only seats along one sideline, and those seats start up above a five foot brick wall. You take a short little set of stairs up to reach them. The permanent bleachers that sit up here provide a phenomenal view of the court below. They go up 6 rows and are painted grey. Along the top above them are huge rectangular windows that have never been filled in and let in a tremendous amount of natural light that bathes the court below. I'm not sure why half of the bleachers were removed, I assume for extra floor space for the factory, but it does provide for a unique view of the area underneath the bleachers. There is a concrete foundation with bricks laid on top that the bleachers sit on. There are also oddly more big windows at the ground level. I can't say that I've seen that anywhere else before.
Right beside the corner where the seats were ripped out is a big stage that was built into one baseline wall. As I mentioned earlier, the floor of the stage was torn out at some point, so it just looks like a big square hole in the wall now. One curious thing that struck me are the little squares that sit at ground level in the back wall of the stage. They have been filled in with blocks, but I wonder what they were before. I will say that I really like the light tan brick that was used throughout the interior of the gym. It seems to sparkle when the light hits it just right. Most WPA gyms all use the same standard dark red and brown brick. This was a nice change of pace. The walls opposite of the stage and bleachers are completely bare for the most part. There are remnants of old heating systems that look as old as the gym itself. Looking up, you can see right into the rafters. There was an original ceiling, but it was removed due to damage. I was told they are hoping to replace it at some point, but honestly I think it looks pretty cool this way! The original hardwood floor is still intact, but it's been pretty weathered over the years as it's been used for a variety of things that go beyond just basketball. It fits the attitude of the whole gym: worn, ragged, but resilient.
The old school and gym here are still being used, and people from the church and community are making an effort to keep it in useable shape, but it's not easy. There's a reason that towns often keep the old gyms but tear down the old schools, it is a ton of work and money to keep everything in decent condition. It's a lot easier when it's just a gym. That's not really an option with places like Hazleton when everything is under one indistinguishable roof. I'm sure there has been talk over recent years about whether it's worth it or not to keep it going. So far the answer to that question has been yes. I pray that continues to be the sentiment for many years to come. The Hazleton gym is one that I think hardly any people outside of Gibson County know about. I hope this blog changes that, even if it's in a small way. This place has a history that's worth telling just as much the three gyms in the southern part of the county that are more well-known. It may be up there in age now, but its spirit is as vibrant as ever, just like the people who called it home so many years ago.
