Read time: 5 min.

Wayne County boasts some of the most charming old high school basketball gyms you’ll ever find. Not long ago, I visited three along US-35 in the northern part of the county. Even from the outside, each seemed to echo with the sound of countless basketball battles! That said, it was the gym nestled in the tiny town of Green’s Fork that truly captivated me. Unlike the others, it stands proudly behind an intact school.

With a population of 335 people, Green’s Fork is the largest community in Wayne County’s Clay Township. Unsurprisingly, the area’s first school was built there in 1818. It consisted of two log cabins connected by a breezeway. 

Apparently, two small structures were easier to erect than one big building¹! The first high school in Green’s Fork was established in 1891². A 1971 article in Richmond’s Palladium-Item called that building the first consolidated school in the state of Indiana³, but readers of this blog know better. 

State officials condemned the first high school at Green’s Fork in the early 1900s. Construction began on a modern replacement, but the process was delayed due to difficulties acquiring the requisite number of bricks. Eventually, the extant building was finished in 1908. The new school at Green’s Fork was considered one of the finest examples of schoolhouse architecture upon its completion⁴. 

The building was laid out like this: elementary classrooms took up the first floor, while the second contained a recitation room, an assembly hall for grades 7-8, and classrooms for students in grades 5 and 6. The basement held labs for domestic science and physics courses⁵. 

In 1923, High School Inspector W.E. Wagner ordered officials to add new academic and athletic facilities to the school at Green’s Fork the same week he commanded school officials in Fountain City to do the same⁶. As a result, both featured cracker box gyms with similar, bizarre, layouts.

Each gym accommodated 300 spectators, maximum, but featured seating split between a balcony along one wall and theater-style seats near the floor that dipped down into a pit surrounding the basketball court. The playing floor was three feet above the first row of chairs! Old-timers remember that playing in the gym was like an on-stage basketball ballet⁷.

Despite their wacky home court, Green’s Fork’s Black Demons basketball team had its best season in 1935-1936. Richmond dominated the rest of the county over the years and looked unsurmountable, but Green’s Fork destroyed Webster and Boston in early rounds to reach the mighty Red Devils. They wound up crushing Richmond 34-20⁸! Then, the Black Demons went on to beat the powerhouse Muncie team in the regionals. Unfortunately, they were blown out by New Castle on their way to a championship⁹. 

Green’s Fork never reached basketball relevance after 1936 but soldiered on as a high school until 1963. That year, Hagerstown absorbed it into the Nettle Creek School Corporation¹⁰. The high school served as a junior high until 1971 when it was closed for good¹¹. 

After it shut down, the old Green’s Fork High School and its gymnasium were used as a factory and a farm equipment dealer. Today, it serves as the Clay Township Fire Department. Fire trucks have taken the place of the gym’s old basketball goals¹², but the old high school in Green’s Fork still stands in remembrance of small-town Hoosier Hysteria. 

Sources Cited
1 Boyd, M. (1923, February 9). Clay Township Had Interest In School Over 100 Years Ago. The Richmond Palladium. p. 10. 
2 Gwin, D. (1923, February 9). Former Graduates Are Found In Many Vocations Of Life. The Richmond Palladium. p. 10. 
3 Knight, M. (1971, May 18). Fate Of Green’s Fork School Building Still Undecided; Alumni Plan Meeting. 
4 School May Be Delayed (1907, August 24). The Richmond Item. p. 3.
5 Brooks, M. (1923, February 9). View of Green’s Fork School and Spacious Playground for Pupils The Richmond Palladium. p. 10. 
6 Additions Ordered To Green’s Fork School (1923, December 15). The Richmond Item. p. 2. 
7 Neddenriep, K. (2010). Historic Hoosier Gyms: discovering bygone basketball landmarks. The History Press [Charleston]. Book. 
8 Green’s Fork Cagers Put On Final Touches (1936, March 13). The Richmond Item. p. 10. 
9 See footnote 7). 
10 New School Bus Plan Adopted At Hagerstown To Trim Costs (1963, March 20). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 7. 
11 (See footnote 3). 
12 (See footnote 7).