Kempton Armory (Jefferson Township & Prairie Township) (1,000) Built 1957
March 16, 2026
Growing up I had very limited knowledge of the military. I was raised in a Mennonite community on my dad’s side of the family where pacifism is a big thing. We weren’t allowed to play with toy guns as young kids (until my youngest brother got into Star Wars and then I guess it was okay? The youngest kid always seems to live by different rules it seems). War, or fighting in general, was just not something that was talked about in the circles I was a part of. My only connection to it was that my grandpa on my mom’s side of the family was in the Navy during the Korean War as an airplane mechanic. While I realized the family was very proud of this, again it wasn’t something that was really discussed until I got older. All of this to say, when I walked down into the dungeon locker rooms at Howe Military for a junior high basketball game and saw another door that said “Armory” on it, I’m not sure I really knew what it meant. Later someone told me it was where the artillery was stored. I don’t know what kind of firepower was being held in a military high school, but it certainly made an impression on me as a naive farm kid who had never even shot a gun. My life was centered around basketball, not ammunition. I never thought the two worlds would intersect again 20 years later in Kempton, Indiana.
When I was first looking through the list of long-shuttered high schools in Indiana to see which old gyms were still standing, I looked at Kempton and thought I was out of luck. I saw the high school folded in 1944, and someone told me that the community center in town was built in the 50s. Obviously it couldn’t have been a part of the high school with those dates not lining up. Then a while later my friend and fellow gym historian Cliff Pappe posted his photos of the old Kempton armory, which is now the aforementioned community center, and told the story of how the armory gym was at one point the home of the Jefferson Township Yankees. At first I was confused, then I realized that when Kempton closed in 1944, they consolidated into Jefferson Township High School. This high school lasted until 1961 when it was absorbed into Tipton. I felt really stupid. Not only did I not realize this timeline originally, but I forgot about it again until my friend and fellow Indiana historian Ted Shideler reminded me of it last week when I was trying to locate all the different Jefferson Township high schools that existed across the state. In my mind, I was still thinking of this place as Kempton! The simple truth is that it was built as the Kempton Armory for the local National Guard, but was used for a short time by the Jefferson Township Yankees who did not have a gym of their own at their high school. I was told that before the armory was built, games were played at another small gym in town that sat by the drugstore. The Yankees won one sectional in 1955, right before this gym opened. (EDIT: After publishing this blog I was told by some locals that the Kempton armory was also the home of the Prairie Township Aces who also resided nearby in Tipton County. This makes it one a few gyms in the history of the state to be the regular home for more than one team!)
Jefferson Township and Prairie Township weren't the first or only teams to play their high school basketball games in an armory. The armory in Greensburg was used by a variety of small county teams in its early years, and Delphi used to play in theirs as well. Those are just two I’m aware of, though I’m sure there were more. In one of Cliff’s pictures, he found an article that states the armory gym was built to seat 1,000 spectators. This was pretty surprising to me considering the space around the court felt like it could maybe hold half of that. There is no longer any seating to speak of in the gym, but it feels like there would have only been room for around 3-4 rows of bleachers along one sideline and maybe 8-9 along the other. That would make it pretty tight to squeeze 1,000 people in, but I’ve found that I’m actually pretty awful at guesstimating seating capacities in these old gyms, so I’ll take their word for it! High up along one sideline wall are some well-placed rectangular windows that let in a lot of natural light. The brick on the lower half of the walls is much smaller than the traditional cinder block walls that makes up the upper half. The contrast gives it a cool look. The baseline walls are pretty bare except for a really neat mural of an orangutan carrying some explosives (the charm of an armory!). There’s also a window into the kitchen that serves the community center. The baskets still have the original wooden backboards and fixed rims which is cool to see. The floor is stained a classic gold color and still looks to be in good shape.
In the lobby outside of the gym are some neat photos of old Kempton and Jefferson Township teams. There is also a picture of the old Kempton school that burned after the second consolidation in the 60s. These photos are mixed in with other military memorabilia and photos of the town. Kempton isn’t a place you’re going to just stumble upon if you’re traveling on the state roads through Indiana. I drove in on a frigid March morning when the roads were half-iced over. I came in what I guess would be considered the back way and had to carefully navigate around some grain bins as I came into town. I wasn’t sure if I was on an actual street or not for a few moments. From the little I saw of the town though, it’s clearly a place with community pride. That much is evident in the way the community center is clearly cared for and the well-maintained homes that line the streets. I talked with a few local people who’ve lived there since the school was open, and they talked about it fondly and with memories that were as clear as if they happened yesterday. It was a short visit, but one that really left an impression on me. I’m sure that impression is felt by everyone who walks though the doors of this neat old gym.
