I used to think my quest to visit every Indiana courthouse and every nearby schoolhouse was sort of unhinged, but then there’s my friend Brett: he’s on a mission to see every high school gym, past and present! Brett’s as sharp as they come, but now and then he runs into a head-scratcher and calls me in to try and help. The latest mystery was Warrick County’s Tennyson Elementary.
“I need another opinion looking at some old aerials of Tennyson Elementary,” Brett messaged me the other day. “It looks like the old gym sits right where a part of the current elementary does, and may still stand as the original gym and part of the current elementary. I can’t tell for sure. Looks like the old school went down and the new one went up in the 80s.”
It’s been a while since a mystery crossed my path, and I was sold. My first visit was to Google Maps rather than Tennyson, since I’d never heard of it or its elementary school. I quickly found out that a post office had existed there since 18811, and that the town was platted a year later2. The place was named after George Martin Van Buren Tennyson, of whom I know nothing.
After I read a little bit about the town, I looked for it on Google Maps. Down south near Evansville, it features an American Legion Post, a post office, some houses, and a strip of old commercial buildings on State Road 161. North of it all sits Tennyson Elementary- a horizontal building with a hipped roof that juts out to the north. Could that be the old gym, as Brett had surmised? I wasn’t sure.
Just like Brett had, I dove into a stack of vintage aerials and scanned each one for any sign of the gym. The earliest image I found, from 1958, appeared to show a peaked-roof structure standing apart from the main school, which stood separately to the east. Once I was confident the gym predated the current school, the next question became unavoidable: had that old structure been folded into today’s elementary school, or did it survive in some other form?
Google’s Street View car made its way through Tennyson in 2023, but didn’t come close enough to the town’s school to ascertain the hallmarks of an old gym. That was a bummer, but I had another ace up my sleeve- old newspapers. Warrick County’s papers weren’t available online, but nearby Evansville’s were! There, I found all I needed.
A quick search revealed an article from the July 10, 1987, edition of the Evansville Courier and Press. As it turns out, the contemporary Tennyson Elementary School was built in 1987. It replaced the original high school, which had been erected in 1911. As part of the project, the old building’s detached gym was remodeled and incorporated into the new school3! Mystery solved.
I found myself triumphant, but this win only complicated things for Brett. He’s simpatico as a teacher, but getting into elementary schools is a tall order for anyone chasing the ghosts of old high school gyms- especially when they’ve been absorbed into newer buildings. Still, there’s something deeply satisfying about knowing the truth! I’m sure Brett will knock this out soon. As always, I’m happy to help.
Sources Cited
1 “Warrick County”. Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
2 Baker, R. (1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. Indiana University Press [Bloomington]. Book.
3 Stanton, B. (1987, July 10). New Tennyson school will open in mid-fall. The Evansville Courier and Press. p. 45.
