Medaryvillle (1,000?) Built 1951
May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025
A few years ago before I started this blog, I saw a post online about a get together at the old Pine Village gym for anyone who wanted to see it one last time before it was going to be demolished. I had recently read about Pine Village in Kyle Neddenreip's Historic Hoosier Gyms, and it looked pretty cool. I almost went, but decided at the last minute not to because it was a couple of hours away. I had no clue that my love of old gyms would turn into all of this, and I would soon be kicking myself for not making the trip. Pine Village is just one on a list of many gyms I have missed out on seeing right before they met their demise. Arlington, Bourbon, and Princeton also feature prominently on that list. Whenever I find photos of an old gym that look current, and then discover they only recently have disappeared, a small part of me dies inside. It's so disheartening knowing I missed my chance to see them by such a small amount of time. And once they're gone, they're gone. I knew this spring that I wanted to make a couple of trips to parts of the state I haven't covered much, and as I started planning, the one place I knew I wanted to hit for sure was St. Bernice just northwest of Terre Haute. The old gym and school there had sat abandoned for many years, and I wanted to reach them before they were gone for good. I started to setup visits to other gyms in the area, and as I was doing so, I stumbled upon a post from a photographer who had taken pictures of the ruins of the old gym right before it was felled by the wrecking ball just the week before. My heart about fell out of my chest. Once again, I was too late.
Consequently, there was another old gym in the back of my mind that I had been reminded of recently by a social media post that wasn't in the best of shape. Someone had posted a picture of the old Medaryville gym on the Indiana high school basketball Facebook page and mentioned they were hoping it could make a comeback. I had also read about the Medaryville gym in Historic Hoosier Gyms, and remembered being awed by its architecture and the name of of its mascot, the Black Horses (which is firmly in the running for coolest and most intimidating mascot in Hoosier Hysteria history). Someone had told me that it really had gone downhill over the last few years. This quickly became the gym I wanted to visit the most this spring. I was determined not to let another one slip through the cracks. What I found when I got there at the end of May was a scene I've seen a good number of times. A gym that was once the center of the community that it served. A gym that was packed to the gills every Friday night during icy Indiana winters. A gym that lost its identity when the town lost its high school. A gym that was hanging on by a thread due to neglect and a lack of purpose over the years. This time though, one thing was different. This gym that had fallen into almost complete disrepair, had found a group of people of who still saw the value in it. A group of people with a vision and the motivation to do something about it. A couple of these people were kind enough to give me a tour of the gym and share its history, along with their plan for the future.
The Medaryville Black Horses never won a sectional, but they came awfully close a few times over the course of the 50 odd years they played in the state tournament. That lack of postseason success didn't quell the town's love of basketball. The Medaryville gym was still the place to be each winter. The Black Horses played in this wonder of a gym for 17 seasons before they were consolidated into West Central in 1968. The gym was also used as West Central's home court for the first few years of its existence. Since then the gym has been used for a variety of community functions, while the old classrooms underneath were occupied most recently by the local American Legion. As I mentioned earlier though, Father Time has not been kind to this place. While you can still see remnants of its splendor, you have to squint a little. Birds have taken up residence in the rafters. There are some leaky spots in the roof, For some odd reason, one of the main baskets that should be hanging from the ceiling is just gone. When I visited, the electricity was turned off as the building isn't currently being used by anyone. If you've read any of my blogs before, you probably could guess that none of this bothered me, and I was able to quickly see past it to the treasure underneath it all, and boy is there a lot of beauty to take in.
The centerpiece of the whole place is simply the architecture itself. The gym is framed with long arched wooden beams that stretch sideline to sideline from the floor, to the sky, and back down again. They're majestic and very unique. The only other gym I've seen in this style is Pleasantville. The wooden boards that fill in the spaces between the arches complete a truly beautiful ceiling above the court below. The bottom of the arches pass right through what are some of the most distinctive bleachers I've ever seen. Each sideline has four rows of permanent wooden bleachers that sit up on a platform of sorts about six feet off the ground. There are no stairways anywhere to access them. The only way to reach them is by climbing the five rows of retractable bleachers below them. The lower bleachers are the interesting kind that fold up inside themselves in a manner that creates an angled slope when they are not pulled out. These bleachers still have their original seat numbers on them painted in red. Retractable and permanent bleachers certainly are not out of the ordinary, but I've never seen a combined configuration like the one here at Medaryville. Being the bleacher nerd that I am, it really intrigued me. The original small rectangular windows right above the top of the bleachers are still intact as well and let in a good amount of natural light (thankfully, or pictures would have been next to impossible on this visit).
The baseline walls look vast and grand due to the curved nature of the ceiling. There are more windows running across the top on both ends that have been haphazardly covered up to try and keep the flying fowls out. Underneath them on the side that is missing the basket is a big expanse of bare white brick. The opposing baseline side has a wide stage that still has a royal-looking purple curtain trimming it on three sides. There are wide doorways on each side that lead to spaces behind the stage. The old school basket crank hangs on the wall beside the stage as well. I couldn't really tell what hue the hardwood floor was stained due to all the dust and low light in the gym, but I am happy to report that even with the leaky roof, it is in pretty good shape. A board or two here and there could use some TLC, but it's really not bad. At center court you can still a red and black "WC" logo from the few years that the gym served as West Central's home.
Mr. Gene Payne and Mrs. Morgan Federer were the two individuals who were nice enough to take time out of their day to show me around. They are also two of the people who are part of the larger group who is trying to give the Medaryville gym a new lease on life. The group is called Friends of the Medaryville Gym, and they will not only soon have possession of the gym, but are starting a campaign to raise funds to restore it to its former glory. A recent inspection revealed the bones of the building are very strong and worth saving. The hope is it can serve as a community center to the town who has loved it for so many years. It would be so easy for this gym to slip into abandonment and compete ruin as so many have across the state over the years. This group is doing everything they can to ensure that doesn't happen here. I'm not sure why I happened to cross their paths right as they were getting started with all of this, but it kind of feels like it was meant to be. These are my kind of people. People who care enough to step up and do the hard things because they know that it's what is best for their community. People who understand why it's important to keep the history and traditions of our small towns, schools, and even gyms alive for future generations to learn about. Legacy matters, especially in a tight-knit community like Medaryville. These old gyms are woven into the stories of the communities they reside in and serve. I only wish I lived closer so I could be a bigger part of the work that is going to have to take a place to make the restoration of the gym a reality. I've wanted to be a part of something like this ever since I started visiting these monuments to Hoosier Hysteria. One way that I, along other Indiana high school basketball crazies like myself can help is through making a donation to the restoration effort. I know every dollar is going to be used wisely, because I know how much these people care about making their vision for the gym a reality. If you would like to support the cause as well, CLICK HERE! It feels good to know that this gym didn't get added to the list of ones that got away. I look forward to the day I get to add it to the list of the ones that got saved.
