St. Mary's (Anderson) (400?) Built 1925
July 21, 2026
July 21, 2026
Have you ever had something you know you should take care of, but you just keep putting it off because it feels inconvienent, trivial, or you have your sights set on something seemingly a little loftier? I am notorious for walking by the same exact box on my porch that needs to go out to the garage 100 times before I take the time to bend down and pick it up. Every morning I'll make a split second justification in my mind for why this isn't the right time to move that box 20 yards down the path to the garage. I'll get it next time, I tell myself. It's honestly pathetic when you think about it. When it comes to my job as a teacher, I tend to be pretty Type A. I want my copies done well in advance, I know exactly what I'm teaching each day weeks ahead of time, I am generally pretty on top of everything. The one thing I hate doing though is filing master copies of worksheets I've already used. It should probably take me two minutes to take care of it each week, but I let the pile of papers grow and grow until I'm forced to do it all at once at the end of the quarter. It doesn't make any sense. Believe it or not, I can be like this with gyms as well. There are 5-6 old gyms that are within about 30 minutes of my house that I've been staring at on my list for two years, and I've made no effort to go see. It's no disrespect to them, I want to check them out, I just feel like I always have my eyes set on places further away. I guess in my head I figure I can go see them anytime, yet that time never seems to come because I don't make the effort. This summer I decided enough was enough and I was finally going to check one off my list.
When I first started teaching 3rd grade at an elementary school in Anderson, an after-school program had just been started. Since I didn't have any kids at home yet, I signed up to be a part of it four nights a week. We had our own students participate in it obviously, but we also had some students bussed over from the local Catholic school in town which was called Holy Cross. I got to know some of those kids throughout the year, and it was neat getting to see them interact and get along with our own students. At the time I didn't realize that Holy Cross not only used to be called St. Mary's, but it also used to have a high school along with the grade school. In fact the high school could trace its roots all the way back to 1864. It was started during the Civil War! According to the school's website, the old school building that is still used by the grade school today was built in 1923, and the gym was finished two years later. The Gaels of St. Mary's fielded a basketball team back in the early 1900s, but they didn't compete in the state tournament until 1943 because the IHSAA barred Catholic and other private schools from participating before then. Once they were allowed in, they competed in the Anderson sectional (one of the very best in the entire state) until 1966 when the nuns left the school and the decision was made to halt the high school programming. The Gaels never won a sectional, but I've heard from multiple people around town who attended St. Mary's that the basketball program still meant a lot to them and other members of the school community (EDIT: Once I published this blog, I had a slew of people sending me some accolades that the Gaels piled up over the years. They won three Catholic state championships in a row from 1936-1938 and were the Catholic national runner-up in 1936. Now that's pretty impressive, but they also three-peated as Madison County tournament champions in 1962, 1963, and 1964, which is almost as impressive considering the talent they would have been facing in the county at that time. I also learned that in the later years of St. Mary's High School, they actually played their home games over at the Wigwam because they simply outgrew this gym. So while it was the home of the Gaels for those early triumphs, I don't think it was except for a few select games during the last two decades of the high school.
When I walked into the 101 year old gym that used to serve as the home of the Gaels, I felt silly for taking so long to come see it. It may be the polar opposite in terms of size compared to it's neighbor a couple blocks away at the Wigwam, but they both share the same spirit of Indiana high school basketball. The court definitely isn't a regulation size in length or width. In fact I don't think it would be even if it extended all the way to the walls on all four sides. The floor is stained a classic gold color, and "Home of the Gaels" is written around the center-court circle which has a Crusader logo of some sort inside of it. I'm glad this was kept when they changed the name of the school to Holy Cross. There are three rows of wooden retractable bleachers along each sideline. While they're not original, I don't think there would have been more seating than there is now back when the gym was still hosting varsity basketball games. All along the walls, about halfway up, are remnants of the old school heating system. They look like ladders hanging all the way around the gym. Above them you can see the outlines of where big windows once stood, long since bricked in. One baseline wall is pretty bare except for padding along the bottom and a narrow entryway in the middle. The opposite baseline wall features a grand old stage with a beautiful white frame around it that's curved in the upper corners. There's a large crucifix on the wall to the left of it, and an old wooden practice hoop on the wall to the right of it.
I visited the gym at 8:00 in the morning and it was already about 90 degrees outside. It felt another 10 degrees or so hotter in the old gym. When I walked back outside, I went across the street to get a good exterior picture. As sweat rolled down my back, I took a few extra beats to figure out the best angle. As I did, I noticed that to the right of the front of the building is another section that sticks out from the center. At the very top of it is "St. Mary's High School" engraved in stone. In a window display right underneath it you can see old trophies all lined up neatly. While most of the old signage around the school was lost when the name changed, this one endured. I mean, it's engraved in stone. It's not going anywhere. This little corner of the exterior of the building will forever be a constant reminder of the origins of the high school, and the fighting Gaels that called it home for so many years.
