Matthews (500?) Built 1890s as dance hall, converted to gym 1920*
April 18, 2025
*Earliest documented use as gym.
April 18, 2025
*Earliest documented use as gym.
Growing up on a dairy farm, I spent a lot of time riding around with adults just doing farm stuff. My dad was specifically in charge of the dairy cows, so I spent a lot of hours with him in the feed room running out silage to the bunks or chasing the cows into the parlor to milk. When I wasn't with my dad, I was usually with one of my uncles riding in the truck or tractor as they did field work. This meant many trips back and forth to the fields hauling wagons filled with corn or soybeans. Most of the time the harvest was stored in the grain bins at the home farm, but I can remember taking wagons once or twice to the grain silos in one of the small towns near us (I want to say it was in Howe, but one of my family members can correct me if I'm wrong). Howe is just one of the many rural small towns in Indiana that has a feed mill or grain elevator service for local farmers. Many of these places are at the center of the communities along with a cafe, convenience store, churches, and maybe an ice cream shop. Many once had their own school that was lost to consolidation years ago. Losing a school often meant losing a good chunk of the population. Those who stuck around usually did so because their family roots run deep in the tight-knit community. Whenever I drive through one of these small towns and see a big grain elevator standing tall amidst an otherwise fading backdrop, I think of those people who came before during the boom years, and those that still remain today. This is the kind of community I found when I strolled into Matthews last month to check out one of the more intriguing old gyms I've visited so far.
The old gym in Matthews stands apart from other's I've visited for a few reasons. The first is that I can't pin down the exact date it was built. Mr. Roger Richards was kind enough to give me a tour of the place and give me some background on its history. After talking to him and reading some old town history he sent me, I learned that the gym was originally built as a dance hall in another part of town in the 1890s. It was moved to its current location on Main Street in 1900, but I haven't been able to ascertain when exactly it was converted into a gymnasium. We know that basketball was played in it starting in at least 1920 when Matthews fielded its first team in the state tournament, but it's possible they had school teams playing there before that. It's also unique in that it ceased being a high school gym all the way back in 1934. That's the year when the Matthews Minutemen consolidated with Upland to form Jefferson Township according to Kyle Neddenriep's Historic Hoosier Gyms. This would be one of the earliest school consolidations in the state (current Matthews children attend high school at Eastbrook). The gym has lived on for 90 years after it stopped hosting high school games, which is easily a record for me personally in the old gyms I have visited. It continued to serve the students at Matthews Elementary until 1973 when the new elementary school across town was built. Since then it has largely been used as a community building of sorts for sports and other local events. It is currently owned by the Lions Club and used for storage.
Walking into the gym, it is evident why it has been relegated to a storage facility over the last 10-15 years. The hardwood floor on the end nearest the entrance has waves like the surface of a potato chip and feels a bit like a trampoline when you walk on it. I've seen pictures of buckled gymnasium floors before, but this was my first time really experiencing one in person. Most of the time when a hardwood floor buckles like this, it is due to water damage from either a leaky roof above or a basement filled with moisture below. In this case it was the result of a nemesis I know all too well myself: raccoons. Mr. Richards said he managed to evict them a few years ago, but the damage was already done. It's too bad because the rest of the gym is in pretty good shape. The gym is long and narrow, and you enter from one of the baseline sides. Right inside the entrance to the right is where the ticket booth and concession stand once stood which is now a closet. You actually walk through a short tunnel of sorts because there is seating built around and above the entrance. There are five rows of tall wooden bleachers on both sides of the entrance with the top row connecting the two sides. The bottom row of bleachers sit about 4-5 feet off the ground. These seats provided probably the best view of the action on the court. There are only two rows of permanent bleachers lining the sidelines of the narrow gym. They connect to the baseline bleachers with some quirky little steps in the corners. Woodwork that looks like modern wainscoting lines the wall above the sideline seats and the short wall across the baseline under the bleachers. All the woodwork on the bleachers is stained a dark cherry red color.
Across the gym from the entrance is a small stage area. Both the inside and outside of the gym were retrofitted with vinyl siding in 1997, so if the stage was framed with any sort of design you can no longer see it. One unique aspect of the gym is that there used to be a wooden ventilation grate built into the hardwood floor right in front of the stage. The basket on that end hangs almost directly above the stage, so the grate sat right underneath the hoop. I can only wonder how many balls took odd bounces off the grate and how many ankles might have accidently been twisted by stepping the wrong way on it. It has since been paneled over. The sections of hardwood floor that aren't buckling are still in pretty good condition. They're all stained a simple dark brown color. The floor isn't close to being regulation size in either length or width, but I wouldn't expect it to be considering the place was originally built to be a dance hall, not a gymnasium. Mr. Richards took me down into the original locker rooms under the stage which were admittedly spooky, but neat to see. Time has taken its toll on them, but many of the original features are still intact. The hoops that hang on each end of the gym are wooden and appear to be original. With the gym floor below strewn with straw being stored for fall festivals, it reminded me of the hoop my cousins and I used to play on in the barn haymow back on the farm.
Just two weeks ago I wrote about the gym in Economy being the oldest wood frame gym we have in the state. I guess technically Matthews could be challenging for that title, though the dates surrounding its origin are a little less clear. Regardless of when it was precisely built or converted to a house of hoops, it certainly holds a special place in the history of Hoosier Hysteria and to the people of Matthews. The Minutemen only played here for about 15 years, but during that time they gave the community something to rally around. Beyond that, the gym has served elementary students and citizens of every age for over a century in a variety of capacities. It's hard to say what the future holds for the gym. As long as it serves a purpose, even if that purpose is storage, I would hope it can continue to stand as another symbol of small town pride, just like the grain elevators up the road. The bones within it are still very strong. With an influx of cash, who knows, maybe it could even return to being used for basketball or dancing as it was originally intended. From visiting these old gyms though, I know just how hard those kinds of funds are to come by in rural communities like this. Whatever lies ahead for the home of the Minutemen, I'm glad I got to see it in person. I hope its story continues to live on through people who care enough about it to share it.
