Shipshewana (600?) Built 1936
December 22, 2025
December 22, 2025
Two weeks ago I made the long drive northeast up to North Judson to watch my alma mater Westview take on Gary 21st Century with a regional title on the line. I've watched Westview play in probably a half dozen or more regionals at North Judson throughout my life, but this was the first time driving up myself as an adult. It had been a decade since I watched my brother play his last high school game in that gym. It holds a lot of memories for me. What sticks out the most is the environment. It didn't matter who we were playing in the regional, that gym was going to be packed, because Westview was going to bring nearly 3,000 fans over from Emma. This time was no different. I got there 20 minutes before tipoff, and if my dad hadn't got there way earlier, I was going to have a very hard time finding a seat. The place was rocking the whole game as Westview pulled off one of the bigger upsets in the state tourney in any class this year by defeating Gary 21st. Gary was much bigger and had more premium talent, but Westview did what Westview does: play hard, play as a team, and make the right decisions. This win meant that I suddenly had plans for this last Saturday as well. I followed the Warriors to Muncie Fieldhouse to see if they could continue their run. Once again, the Westview crowd was overflowing into other sections of the gym because it was so vast. Once again, Westview made plays when they needed to and punched their ticket to the state finals for the first time since 2014. When I was taking my kids to the bathroom during the night game, a fan from the other school asked if our crowds are always like this. I couldn't help but smile and say, "Yep, pretty much." As long as I can remember, the Westview community has loved basketball more than anything else. Until recently I didn't realize just how far back in time that passion went.
Yesterday I was writing my blog about the old Hatchet House in Washington, and I lamented about how time has passed us by to the point that there aren't any people left to talk to about what Indiana high school basketball was like in the 30s and 40s. Life is funny sometimes. Tonight I got off the phone with someone I've known my whole life and who gave me some great stories and memories about basketball in exactly that time period, and in my hometown nonetheless. Mr. Richard Hostetler grew up attending school in Shipshewana in the 30s and 40s. He graduated from Shipshewana High School in 1943, one year before Shipshe won their first and only sectional championship (his team picture is above!). Those sectional games were held in Kendallville, My favorite story he told me occurred when Shipshewana went to the old Northside Gym in Fort Wayne (which is tragically now the school's library) and played Warsaw in the 1943 regional. It was a close game, and at one point someone shot the ball and it bounced off the rim and over the backboard. Everyone on the floor stopped because they assumed it was out of bounds and a dead ball. It wasn't called that way though, and the Warsaw coach yelled at his players to do something. One of them picked the ball up and dropped it in for two while everyone else stood around watching in confusion. Warsaw would go on to beat Shipshewana in overtime, that possession mattered! That moment and that game were talked about for a long time on the Fort Wayne radio station according to Mr. Hostetler. While the Shipshewana Indians (or Scotties? I've found mixed reports depending on the year) got to play some big games in places like Kendallville, Fort Wayne, and LaGrange, their home games were played in a small gym right inside their school. Besides growing up in the same church in Emma, this little gym and school are something else Mr. Hostetler and I have in common. We both played ball here, only about 80 years apart.
The Shipshewana school that still stands today as an elementary was built in 1936. It was called Shipshewana High School from 1936 until 1955 when it absorbed Scott High School (which was a mere 2 miles from my childhood home. Mr. Hostetler remembered their gym as being separate from the high school building and was more of a shack that was moved in from a farm and converted into a gym). After that it was known as Shipshewana-Scott High School until 1966 when it consolidated with Topeka to form Westview over in Emma. For two small schools that had only one sectional combined to their names before the consolidation, they birthed one of the most successful small school programs in the state over the course of the next 60 years. Since the consolidation, the school and gym have served as an elementary for kids in Shipshewana, myself included. I went to school here from 2000-2005. The gym today looks fairly different from when I went there, and when I went there it looked pretty different from when Mr. Hostetler attended there in the early 40s. The main difference from when I went there to now is that the green carpet that used to cover the walls is all gone. In just the last year it was removed, and the walls have been painted white. Ironically, it actually looks more similar now to what it did when it was originally built than it did when I was in school. That's because you can now see the original brickwork that was being hidden by that hideous green carpet all those years. Before we jump into that though, let's talk about what it looked like back in its heyday.
The original look of the Shipshewana gym wasn't too entirely different from what you see here today outside of one glaring feature. There used to be a balcony that surrounded the court on three sides. From what I've been told, the balcony looked similar to what you find at places like Graysville or the old Loogotee gym. There were a few rows of bench seats behind a short wooden wall. The wooden balcony was removed sometime in the 70s due to safety concerns. The gym also had a few more entrances that have since been blocked in, one in the middle of the baseline wall opposite of the stage, and another on the right side of the stage if you are facing it. You can tell because the ornate brickwork around those entrances is now visible since the carpet has been pulled off the walls. You can also see this cool brickwork around the entrances to the gym that are still in use today. The brickwork is also the only evidence left of the old balcony. It's a lot harder to see, but if you look closely, there are a few places where you can tell the balcony was attached to the brick high up on the walls. While the walls may look a little plain today, I'm glad the decision was made to take down the carpet and reveal the original brickwork. It helps me forget some of the great memories I had in that gym: Not being able to climb the Rope of Death that used to hang from the ceiling, not being able to do a chinup on the old bars that used to hang by the stage, getting beat by all the fast Amish kids during relay races, good times!
I'm not sure if the gym originally had permanent bleachers or retractable ones along the sidelines on the ground level, but there couldn't be more than the 4-5 rows that are there now. These are the same bleachers that were there when I was a kid. We used them in school, but I mostly remember clambering up and down them when my dad played church league basketball games here on dark cold winter nights. The main thing I remember about the gym from my own childhood is the one big feature we haven't talked about yet, the stage. The stage sits behind one baseline and is lined on each side by skinny pillars of brick running vertically alongside it. The top of the stage goes all the way up against the drop ceiling (I wonder what it looked like before that was put in). There were originally entrances to the backstage and locker room areas on both sides, but as I mentioned before one has been blocked in. Growing up, I was always fascinated by the backstage area here. This is partially because there were stairs leading up to a "secret room." That room was actually used as a classroom for a long time and could be accessed via the second floor of the school as well. The balcony area also could be accessed via the upper hallways of the school which I never thought about until I came back to visit and take pictures in December. There are some neat spiraling staircases back here that lead up to the stage as well. Mr. Thad Hart, the P.E. teacher at the school (and best PA guy in the entire state at Westview basketball games), who was kind enough to let me in to take pictures showed me his office which is in a really cool nook back behind the stage as well. I don't know why I was so enamored with this space as a kid, but getting to see all of it again as an adult was really cool. The hardwood floor here has been refinished many times over the years. Currently it is stained a very light tan color.
The one thing that stuck with me the most from my conversation with Mr. Hostetler was when I asked him what made games back then so special. He said that the gym was always full, and that everyone knew everyone. He said that Shipshewana won their first LaGrange County tournament back in 1941. He said that moment ignited a passion for basketball in the community that never died out. I can confirm that. It didn't die out when the schools consolidated. It didn't die out when the single class era came to a close. It didn't die out after the Troy Neely led Warriors won back to back 2A state titles in the early years of the class system. It didn't die out after the 2014 Warriors lost to Park Tudor in the state finals (shoutout to my brother Andrew who canned two three's in that game as a sophomore). It didn't die out after Charlie Yoder became Westview's first Indiana All-Star. That passion is still here. It was at North Judson two weeks ago, it was at Muncie last weekend, and it will be there at Gainbridge this coming weekend. I've been like a little kid again enjoying this run. One way or another it's going to come to an end on Saturday. I'll be there with my whole family, standing up and clapping as Dan Byler's whistle fills an 18,000 seat stadium. While I do, I'm going to try and keep in mind where it all started, in a little gym in Shipshewana.
