If you’re not from around here, Hoosier Hysteria is real. We love our basketball in Indiana! Class-based sports don’t match the excitement of the old days when schools like Gaston were one of twelve vying for the Delaware County Championship, but the Bulldogs’ old gymnasium still stands as a poignant reminder of those glory years.
At least four schools served the community known as New Corner, Snagtown, and Gaston1. As of 1887, classes were conducted in a building that once served as the town’s Red Man’s Lodge2. Later, it became the office and home of Dr. Fred Langdon. The big brick house is a landmark to this day. It’s impossible to miss.
Later, the school moved to a building at the corner of Walnut and Sycamore that’s since been torn down3. Gaston’s final high school, a two-story school with a basement and open belfry, was built on the northwest side of Walnut and Madison Streets in 1899. Twenty-five years later, an addition featuring a gymnasium, study hall, and classrooms expanded the building to the west4.
Lots of great basketball was played in that gym over the years. My favorite story occurred in 1954 when my great uncle Bob Swander led the Yorktown Tigers to a decisive 53-38 win over Gaston on Yorktown’s way to the Delaware County Championship5! Family ties aside, Gaston put some quality teams on the court over the years. In 1927, Gaston went 15-5. The 1952 team went 11-76, but the Bulldogs peaked in 1956 and 1957 when they won the Delaware County Tournament7.
Unfortunately, the expanded Gaston High School wasn’t large enough to serve its students. Washington Township completed a $308,000, twelve-classroom elementary northeast of the 1899/1924 structure in 19588. The same year saw the passage of a new state law that specified minimum school enrollments and property tax valuations. Under the new guidelines, Gaston’s district was too small.
As a result, it combined with nearby Harrison Township to form the Harrison-Washington Community School District in 19669. After Wes-Del High School was built, the Gaston Volunteer Fire Department bought the old school. The academic wing of the building was razed, but the gym was retained as a community center10.
It’s been so ever since. In the 1980s, the exterior of the building was remodeled with strange wooden siding11. A park eventually sprung up on the site of the old school. Turnout has ebbed and flowed in the sleepy town, but people flocked to the gym in 2007 after the roof of the old Gaston Skating Rink caved in. It also hosted town-wide dodgeball tournaments for a time12.
Gaston’s old gym has gotten a lot of use after the Bulldogs left the floor, but I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that its days might be numbered. From what I’ve been told, the basement of the school next door wasn’t properly filled in after it was demolished. Apparently, that’s led to structural problems that may be too difficult to surmount. I sure hope that’s not the case for this basketball landmark in rural Delaware County! A hundred years years of basketball history live within its walls, and it’d be a shame to see them tumble down.
Sources Cited
1 Greene, D. (1947, June 17). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p.
2 Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (pp. 268–269). book, Kingman Brothers.
3 Griffing, B. N. (1887). Washington Township. An atlas of Delaware County, Indiana . map, Philadelphia, PA; Griffing, Gordon, & Company.
4 Teachers will view new school. (1924, November 6. The Muncie Morning Star. p. 5.
5 Episode (1954, ). Yorktown High School [Yorktown]. Yearbook.
6 Aurora (Various). Gaston High School [Gaston]. Yearbooks.
7 Neddenriep, K. (2010). Historic Hoosier Gyms: discovering bygone basketball landmarks. The History Press [Charleston]. Book.
8 School Corporation Stockholders to Meet. (1958, December 29). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 16.
9 Delaware County Committee for the Reorganization of School Corporations. (1959). A Comprehensive plan for the reorganization of school corporations of Delaware County Indiana. Muncie, IN; Delaware County Committee for the Reorganization of School Corporations
10 Barnet, B. (1966, November 22). Gaston Firemen Buy Old School, Gym for Use of Community. The Muncie Star. p. 13.
11 (See footnote 7).
12 Carlson, J. (2007, April 15). Family fun. The Muncie Star Press. p. 29.
