Vernon (300?) Built 1941
January 2, 2024
January 2, 2024
I've visited a lot of unique gyms over the last year and a lot of quirky small towns to go along with them. Newport's gym inside the basement of a library comes to mind. Driving through that town and seeing its centuries old jail was striking. Pleasantville felt like I had traveled so far into the miles of cornfields and wilderness that I felt like I would never get out. The town of Haubstadt made it seem like I had stepped onto a movie set. A small piece of every place I visit always sticks with me for one reason or another, but some towns truly get seared into my brain. Vernon, Indiana falls into that category. I first drove through it on my way to Paris Crossing back in October, but I was able to take my time and explore a little more when I stopped by their gym this January. It takes you further back in time than any other Indiana town I’ve visited. Many buildings feel frozen in time from over a centruy ago. Some are in pristine condition, others are pretty weathered, but overall it's an incredibly cool scene. It’s only fitting that the old gym it is home to would knock my socks off as well.
The old Vernon gym is unique for a variety of reasons. When you drive up to it, it doesn’t look anything like the other WPA gyms from its era. That’s mostly because the front of the old school is still attached to it, and the gym is built into a hill behind that facade. It’s a very picturesque entrance. The gym was also built in 1941, right before the United States entered World War II. I have found very few gyms built anytime during the 40s. If construction on the Vernon gym started a year later, who knows when or if it would have been completed. The front of the old school is all that remains of the old high school. It continued to be used as an elementary school for many years after the high school consolidated into Jennings County in 1964 until the primary structure was destroyed in a fire. The students actually finished that school year holding some classes in the gym itself (It was said that not a lot of learning was taking place at the time, understandably so). In the front portion of the school there are a few classrooms that look as vintage as the rest of the building. They’ve been used for a wide variety of functions over the years. Currently the town council holds their meetings in one of them and another houses a historical museum with oodles of Vernon Blue Devils memorabilia. The original school bell hangs high above the big room where the stage is. Turn the opposite direction when you’re on the stage and you’ll see the gym itself unfold before you.
The interior of the gym feels much more like its WPA peers. There are four rows of fully intact original bleachers running along each sideline. They’re stained a very dark and rich brown with yellow painted seat numbers and dividers on the benches. There are grooves inlaid along the sides of the benches much like what I found at Williamsburg. They’re gorgeous. One thing that makes them distinctive is that the numbered seats don’t restart with each row, they continue to just ascend as the bleachers go up as well. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that in any gym I’ve been to. The very last seat I found on one side was #86. You can also still see the sections that were designated for different groups like the cheerleaders painted right onto the seats. The original scorer’s table is still intact as well and in good condition. I could go on and on about the bleachers, but there are other features worth talking about.
Above the bleachers along the sideline walls are big square windows that have long since been boarded up to help save money on heating and cooling costs. There’s also an old pulley system on one wall that would’ve helped raise and lower the old baskets a long time ago. The far baseline wall is fairly bare except for a couple of flags and two ancient wooden backboards with the rims taken off that would’ve originally served as additional practice hoops. In one corner is a modern exit door, and in the other corner is an original wooden door. It’s in pretty rough shape, but it gives the place even more character. The opposing baseline wall is taken up almost entirely by a grand old stage. It’s trimmed in a white wooden border on three sides and the stained wood floor on the bottom. It looks very elegant with the classic red brick as its backdrop. Without a curtain you can see right into the old portion of the building that served as part of the school. There are also two little matching square cutouts in the brick on each side of the stage at ground level that used to be part of the original heating system. The hardwood floor is stained a classic golden brown color and is in pretty good condition thanks to a grant the town received from the Indiana Pacers to refinish it a few years ago.
Grants are typically the biggest source of hope and funding for restoring and preserving the vintage gyms we still have standing in Indiana. Without them, the costs for maintaining the gyms, much less improving them is almost impossible for small town communities to manage unless they receive sizable private donations. Vernon has recently received a grant to begin to transform the old school and gym into a true community center. I cannot wait to see what they are able to do with the place. It’s filled to the brim with potential. Mrs. Mary Bender, who was my guide for the day, told me that Vernon is the smallest town in the state who still holds elections and selects its own mayor every two years. It is allowed to do so because of a unique town charter that was set up when the town was founded. It's ability to do so was challenged in in 1948 but was upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court according to the town website.It's continued to pave its own way for all these years. Vernon is also the smallest county seat in the state and the entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places. I’m telling you, there is just something about this place, and there is just something about this gym. If you have the chance, stop in and see both. I think you’ll find a certain sense of magic around the whole community just like I did.
