Warren (800?) Built 1926
March 17, 2026
March 17, 2026
I've driven a specific stretch of I-69 regularly for over ten years now. Exit 278 to Exit 241 has been a staple of my journey to and from my hometown since my wife and I moved to Anderson in 2017. Whenever we would get on or off State Road 5 on Exit 278, I would see the big signs for Warren, but we always would be traveling the opposite direction away from it. It always stuck with me though, what's in Warren? Fast forward 7 years or so and I'm reading Kyle Neddenriep's Historic Hoosier Gyms, and what do I see? An entry for Warren! I double checked to make sure it's the same Warren I've been driving past for a decade, and I realize it is. A seemingly silly connection? Maybe. But I was still excited about it. This was in the months before I started my blog, but right away knew I wanted to see this place in person. It took me much longer than I wanted, over three years, but on a frigid March morning, as flurries were still blowing around and plows were trying to clear the state roads from the snowstorm the night before, I made it. Driving up, I just knew it was going to meet every expectation I had for it. Not only was the gym preserved, but the entire old school building, standing tall and proud as it has for a century. I finally had arrived in Warren, and in that moment there was nowhere else I would have rather been.
Sometime I'm going to sit down and do a definitive ranking of my top 50 Indiana high school nicknames. Until that time, I'm going to just keep claiming that certain ones I'm writing about are among the best we have, and I'm going to do it again here. Can you imagine being a player for a small Huntingon County school in the 50s, and looking at the schedule, and realizing you had to go play the Warren "Lightning Five" at their place on a frigid January evening? You would just know you were in for a long night. According to Historic Hoosier Gyms, the basketball team was given that nickname by a local sportswriter after they defeated Marion in the early 1900s. I can't think of another nickname in our state's history that just referred to the five players on the court as a collective like that, though I may be forgetting one. Either way, it's one of the coolest possible nicknames you could come up. The Lightning Five played in the Huntingon sectional every year that I can find record of. While they weren't ever able to secure that elusive sectional title, they had plenty of good teams over the years that brought home other types of hardware like the county tournament trophy. Before Warren consolidated into Huntington North in 1966 (records may indicate they actually became Salamonie Township along the way before consolidation, but that seems to depend on who you ask and what historical documents you're looking at. I've seen both more than once. It was the same school), they played in this gym dating back to the mid-20s. 20s gyms are always interesting because there was not really a common trend from that decade, they all had unique styles. This one is no different.
My guide for this visit was Mr. Bruce Preston. He is one of the caretakers for the school and gym, which is now called the Knight-Bergman Center. It's a community center that serves the citizens of Warren in a variety of ways. As I mentioned earlier, the entire school is intact and in great shape, all thanks to hardworking volunteers like Mr. Preston. Williamsburg and Fairbanks are two of the only other places I've found that have preserved the old schools from this era along with the gyms. The first area inside that Mr. Preston showed me was on the stage itself. Unlike most old gyms with heavy curtains running across the stage, Warren's gym has sections of beautiful wood paneling that stretch across the opening of the stage. The decorative panels run three high and eight wide. They fold in and out, almost like an accordian. They're original to when the gym was built, and they still function as they should 100 years later. It's such a cool little feature. The stage area itself is interesting. On one side you have the paneling that opens to the gym, but in the back there is another opening to a spacious room that has been used for a variety of purposes over the years. Today it has been fitted to be a big community room that can be rented out for gatherings and other bigger meetings. I don't think I've ever encountered a stage that can be used from two different sides. Just another quirky feature that makes this place so neat.
Walking inside the gym itself, I was taken aback by a few different things, but as usual the first thing that caught me eye was the bleachers. In a gym this old I typically expect the bleachers to be of the permanent variety. I can't think of any retractable ones that predate 1950. The bleachers here are definitely some of the oldest retractable ones I've come across. I do think it's possible they're original. Looking at some very old photos in the gym, they seem to match. According to Historic Hoosier Gyms, the class of 1928 donated the first bleachers, and I think they could very well be the ones that are still here. While a little rickety, they still look fantastic. The bench seats are a nice gold color and have dividing lines with numbers painted on. These are the kind of retractable bleachers that fold in at an angle when they are all rolled up which I've always thought is cool. Each bleacher section is 8 rows high running along the sidelines. One of the coolest stories Mr. Preston shared with me was that he was actually able to contact the company that manufactured the bleachers almost a century ago, and they are still in business! They probably still have the parts on hand that were used all those years ago. Old bleachers will always be something I appreciate. They just hold so much character in these old gyms.
Standing right in front of the bleachers are some metal support beams that provide some obstructed views from the stands. I'm sure no one minded too much when they were watching a sold out game, they would just be happy to be in the building! The playing floor was redone fairly recently and it looks really sharp. It's stained a light-tan color, is a little heathered, and has the fantastic Lightning Five logo right at center court (a blue circle with a 5 in the middle and a lightning bolt going through it). Above the court is a roofline that's a little odd. It starts out at almost a flat angle, then it moves sharply upwards at an angle to the center. The center of the ceiling running parallel with the court is tarped off, and Mr. Preston explained why. The gym actually had a huge skylight running down that center originally. In Historic Hoosier Gyms, players noted that the condensation from it would sweat constantly and the court would have to be continuously wiped off. Eventually it became enough of a problem that it was covered up, which also helped massively with heating and cooling costs. As impractical and problematic as I'm sure it was, I would kill to have seen this place back when the skylight was still there. What a unique, albeit flawed, design idea. They really went for it!
My visit ended with Mr. Preston showing me the museum room that the volunteers at the Knight-Bergmen Center have put together. It's a treasure trove of Warren High School history, and they've even included some items from other Huntington County schools that have long been lost to the sands of time. Of the more than a dozen county schools that eventually became part of Huntington North, Warren is the only one outside of Huntington city limits who's school or gym has survived to my knowledge. That makes what the community and people involved with the Knight-Bergmen Center have done here even more remarkable. I probably could have spent an hour in that room looking at all of the memorabilia and talking with Mr. Preston about it all if I had the time. Unfortunately I was on a bit of a schedule that day and had a couple more stops along the way. Before I left, Mr. Preston gave me a piece of the old gym floor. I don't get a lot of gifts on my travels (nor do I expect any), and this one is really neat. I've found the perfect place for it in my Indiana basketball room (the one room in my house that my wife has allowed me to decorate). It's not lost on me that the people here took the time and care to preserve the floor that so many members of the Lightning Five made a name for themselves on. They take great care in every aspect of the old building and gym. It was evident from the minute I walked in to the moment I left. It's a visit that left a mark on me I won't soon forget.
