A glimpse inside the Gaston gym

Ted Shideler Leave a comment
Read time: 9 min.

Delaware County boasts basketball cathedrals like the Muncie Fieldhouse and Ball Gymnasium, but its history thins out fast after a step outside the city. In fact, only one true survivor from Indiana’s golden age of hoops remains- the home of the Gaston Bulldogs. After years of trying to find someone to let us in, My friend Brett and I visited yesterday. We might have made it just in time. Here’s how it all unfolded, with some history to boot.

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The home I wrote about yesterday WAS an old schoolhouse, but I still don’t know much about it

Ted Shideler 3 Comments
Read time: 4 min.

Yesterday, I posted about a building at 3604 East Jackson Street in Muncie that someone told me was an old schoolhouse. I had my doubts since I’d never come across it in years of digging through local history, but a fortunate tip from reader gregandbirds strongly suggested I may have been wrong.

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Someone said this is an old schoolhouse, but I’m skeptical

Ted Shideler 6 Comments
Read time: 3 min.

As much as I’ve learned about East-Central Indiana’s old schoolhouses, I don’t consider myself an expert. Experience has taught me otherwise! Just when I start to feel confident, some new detail comes along and humbles me. That happened about five years ago, when I was told the building at 3604 East Jackson Street in Muncie was once a schoolhouse. It’s a fascinating claim, but one I’m not convinced is true.

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One last set of ten old gyms as they appeared in Sanborn Maps

Ted Shideler 3 Comments
Read time: 7 min.

Growing up in the heart of Hoosier Hysteria, it was probably inevitable that I’d fall for basketball. What I didn’t expect was how deeply I’d get hooked on the places it was played. Long after the final buzzer, I’m still thinking about balconies, locker rooms, and oddly shaped floors. Recently, I’ve been digging through old Sanborn Maps to trace how high school gyms were first built, how they evolved, and what those changes say about the communities that packed them. Here’s a little more of what turned up.

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Ayr-Way East in Indy

Ted Shideler 10 Comments
Read time: 6 min.

After a recent trip to the moribund Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis, I found myself fixated on the modern Target out front. More specifically, I wondered about what had come before it. Fortunately, I had reason to head back soon after and took the time to look a little closer. An old Target practically stared me in the face! Its oversized, boxy entrance was a dead giveaway that it started life as Ayr-Way.

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I clinched Muncie’s Thunderbolt trifecta with unfortunate results

Ted Shideler 4 Comments
Read time: 4 min.

Most of Muncie’s outdoor warning sirens are bland, modern Federal Signal 2001-SRNs. Three, however, are different: they’re yellow Federal Signal Thunderbolts that date back to 1958. I’ve finally tracked all of them down, but the last example -perched at the old Riley Elementary School- has fallen silent. Its Cold War voice is broken. 

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Anderson’s empty State Theater

Ted Shideler 7 Comments
Read time: 6 min.

The old State Theater is a gem. In almost any small, midwestern city aside from Anderson, Indiana, it likely would have already been reborn! Instead, it sits in the long shadow of the Paramount just to the north, an astounding atmospheric palace that was fully restored three decades ago. Even so, the State’s story and significance are no less vital.

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