The first reference to a Center Grove High School basketball team appears in the Franklin Democrat newspaper of 1911. Center Grove schools did not have a gymnasium at this time, although a photo of this era documents an outdoor basketball court with two goals in front of the school. During the first decade of team basketball at Center Grove, home games were played at Rush’s Hall, a community meeting facility in the town of Bargersville.[1] From 1888 until 1921, high school commencement ceremonies, plays and other large group activities were typically held at local churches and on occasion at Rush’s Hall.[2]
The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) was formed by school principals in 1903 to establish rules and regulations for high school sports. The first two decades of the 20th Century were a time of tremendous growth of boys high school basketball in Indiana. The first IHSAA basketball tournament featured twelve teams. By 1921, 394 teams participated. Center Grove High School became an IHSAA member in 1911, the first year the organization held a statewide championship tournament.[3]
“By the 1920s the high school gymnasium became an important civic monument to towns and cities throughout the state” of Indiana. Civic pride became inextricably linked with support of high school basketball.” [4] “In 1927, [IHSAA Commissioner Arthur] Trester estimated that the combined seating capacity for all high school gyms at the time totaled nearly one million, or approximately one -third of Indiana’s entire population.”[5] Undoubtedly, in White River Township of the 1920s, a school gymnasium was also linked to civic pride.
During the 1919-1920 basketball season, the Center Grove High School teams played their games at opponent’s gyms or at Franklin College. The same year, CGHS converted its assembly room into a “play room” and “make-shift gym” for physical training and basketball practice.[6] The Franklin Evening Star newspaper reported that, “The improvised gymnasium is serving as a fairly good place to practice but is none too warm or light.”[7]
In the 1918 election, Democrat James T. Paris won the race for White River Township Trustee. Several months after taking office, Paris proposed the construction of a township community center that could also be utilized as a school gymnasium.[8] After attempting to gain support for the project in Franklin, Paris and supporters of the new gymnasium project held a community meeting at Center Grove High School. One hundred-fifty citizens attend the meeting to discuss a proposed “…$75,000 community building for White River township erected as an addition to the township high school in which would be provided a large gymnasium and apartments for teachers and other adjuncts.”[9] Another newspaper account of the meeting noted that “The proposed building would contain four classrooms, a gymnasium, an auditorium and a recreation room.”[10] Prior to this meeting, a remonstrance against the construction of this building was carried by a majority of the taxpayers. Those opposed to the gym’s construction stated their objections to construction were the cost and scope of the project. A representative of the State Board of Tax Commissioners was present at the meeting and stated that he would soon issue a report on the financing of the project. Both those in support and in opposition to the project were represented at the meeting by attorneys. The Township Trustee’s Advisory Board took the matter under advisement.[11]
A few days after the community meeting, the State Board of Tax Commissioners denied the plans as filed and stated there would not be approval for any expenditure by the township of more than $50,000. For the next several months, a series of obstacles delayed construction of the gym. Three months after the State Board of Tax Commissioners denial, a “Notice to Contractors” was published in local newspapers, calling for contractors to submit bids for construction of a Center Grove gymnasium by August 21, 1920. For unknown reasons, the construction of the gymnasium was delayed at this time.
In the spring of 1921, supporters of the gym construction project resumed efforts to start gym construction. White River Township Trustee Paris, the Trustee Advisory Board, C.G. staff and C.G. students organize to sell door-to-door tickets to partially finance the new gym. The goal was to sell 500 $5 tickets and in the first week, 260 tickets were sold.[12] In May of 1921, construction was again delayed by the bondsmen of the township trustee, who asked to be released from their bond.[13] “The Johnson County court released Mr. Paris’ bondsman, and others immediately volunteered to sign his bond, which was promptly approved by the court.”[14]
In early June 1921, ten months after bids were first solicited to begin construction of a Center Grove gymnasium, a “Notice to Contractors” to submit construction bids again appeared in Franklin newspapers. A few days after publication of this notice, a petition was filed for an injunction to prevent construction of the gym. The injunction was filed in Johnson County Circuit Court by Robert J. Johnson and other White River Township landowners.[15] Defendants were Trustee Paris and Township Advisory Board members. Within two days, Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Fremont Miller heard arguments in the case of Robert J. Johnson, et al vs James T. Paris, Trustee to halt construction of the gymnasium. The gym opponent’s objections centered around the legality of using surplus township funds and an additional tax levy to pay for the gym.[16] In their plea, opponents stated that the sale of bonds was the legal method of financing a new school gymnasium.[17] Judge Miller dismissed the case based upon the failure by the plaintiff to claim sufficient facts for the cause of action. The plaintiff was also ordered to pay the court costs of the defendants.[18]
Within days of the Johnson County court decision, the gym’s organized opponents filed a brief with the Indiana State Court of Appeals for an injunction to halt construction of the gym. “The plaintiffs in the suits assert that the action of the trustee and his board in paying for the building out of funds in their hands and taxes to be levied and hereafter collected, is illegal, as bonds should be issued.” The Court of Appeals granted the petition and the attorneys for Trustee Paris then filed their own appeal to start construction. Robert J. Johnson and others were the plaintiffs in this petition. The Court of Appeals would not rule on the merits of the case for ten months. [19]
Meanwhile, supporters of the gym started procedures to begin construction. In July of 1921, the Johnson County Board of Education awarded the construction contract and accepted bids to supply heating and electricity for the new gym.[20] During the summer and fall of 1921, contractor Otis Fulmer directed the construction project. Within three months, the work was completed and on October 29, 1921, the new gym was dedicated.[21]
Five months after the first basketball game was played in the new C.G. gymnasium, the petition for an injunction to halt construction of the gymnasium was dismissed by Indiana Appellate Court Judge Willis C. McMahan, citing the fact that the issue was now moot since the gym had been built and had been in use for several months. In addition to losing the Appellate Court decision, the gym’s opponents were ordered to pay costs associated with the case which may have included filing fees, court reporter fees and other expenses.[22]
Opponents of the C.G. gym made a final attempt to express their disapproval of the gymnasium project. Seven months after the dedication of the gym, the State Board of Accounts sent word to the remonstrators and their attorney, of an investigation into the legality of the financing of the new Center Grove gymnasium project by Township Trustee James Paris and his Advisory Board.[23] Five months later, the State Board of Accounts found that there was no indebtedness or financial impropriety associated with the construction of the Center Grove gym.[24]
Even though the C.G. gymnasium had been completed and was in use, divisions over the gym’s construction continued to reverberate in the community. Township Trustee Paris did not seek reelection in 1922. The chief issue in White River Township elections of May and November of 1922 was construction of the gym. “Gym or anti-gym is the issue in White River township where party lines have been abandoned …” over the construction of the gym. Bert Grose the Democratic candidate for trustee in the election, was an opponent of the construction of the gym “… and he won his nomination on that platform.” Grose would also win the general election in November. The Franklin Evening Star, in a September 13, 1922, article observed:
It's an unusual race and will be watched with as much county wide interest as any political contest in the county this fall. Incidentally it again shows how seriously local issues affect the vote in elections and muss up party affiliations. In this case the issue on which the campaign is being made is practically a “dead” issue as far as any effect the result will have on the Center Grove gym. The building is up and in use and even though the Anti-gym faction wins the election the gym won’t be torn down but will be used right along every day by the children of the Anti-gym voters as well as those of the gym advocates.[25]
Over the next several years, in addition to basketball events and physical education classes, the new C.G. gym was used for many types of school events. The first high school commencement in the gym, April 18, 1922, received rave reviews in the local press.
“Persons in the audience who had attended former commencements at Center Grove could not fail to note the marked contrast between the present commodious hall, with a capacity of more than one thousand, and the room with a scant 300 capacity, in which White River township schools were formerly forced to hold commencement exercises.”[26] School plays were presented on the gymnasium’s stage. The new gym also made an ideal meeting site for the annual Center Grove Alumni Association Banquet.[27]
In addition to school activities, many community events were held in the C.G. gym.[28] Business organizations, farm groups, family reunions, church groups and fraternal organizations all used the gym. Political associations and local community theatre groups gave presentations in the largest public meeting place in White River Township.[29] A search of Johnson County newspapers from 1921 to 1927 document significant utilization of the gym by the White River Township community.
On October 1, 1927, the six-year-old Center Grove gymnasium was destroyed by fire. The nearby high school classroom building, although damaged, was saved from destruction. The loss of the gymnasium was estimated at $20,000 and $12,000 of that amount was covered by insurance. The origin of the fire was never established.
Throughout the 1927-1928 basketball season, the Center Grove team practiced and played home games at Franklin High School.[30] Despite these difficulties, the C.G. team, led by Coach Custer Baker, was the champion of the 1928 Johnson County Basketball Tournament and finished the season with a record of sixteen wins and four losses.[31]
In March of 1928, five months after the destruction of the Center Grove gymnasium, the process of constructing a new replacement gymnasium began. An architect was hired and that same month, $12,000 of bonds were sold to finance the construction of a new gym. Unlike the 1921 Center Grove efforts to finance and construct a gymnasium, in 1927 there was no remonstrance or legal action taken in opposition. Construction started in June of 1928 and was completed four and a half months later. The first game was played in the new gym on November 16, 1928.[32]
The second C.G.H.S. gymnasium was built in the same location as the first and was similar in size. Several changes were made to the second gym to make it more fireproof than the first. These improvements included the use of steel roof trusses and brick walls. The second building was several feet longer than the former and had entrances at the corners of the building to facilitate the entry and exit of spectators. The second gym also had seating on all four sides of the court, as opposed to two sides of seating in the first gym.
Two days after the gym fire of 1927, the Franklin Evening Star newspaper commented:
The gymnasium was erected several years ago and the proposal to build it was bitterly fought through appeals to the state tax board and remonstrances but in the intervening time the bitterness has been washed away in the realization of the benefit derived by the community from the building. It was a real community center with every event of importance being held in the gymnasium, church and club socials, teachers and farmers institutes, Farm Bureau meetings and during the fall and winter months it had become necessary to make reservations several weeks ahead for the gym’s use.[33]
Five months later, the Franklin Evening Star again observed in a column titled, “Building Greatly Missed”:
The loss of the gymnasium early in the fall was a great blow to the basketball team and the school as well as depriving the community of a place for meetings. Realization of the benefits derived from the use of the gym as a place of meetings for the various organizations was one of the leading factors in the determination of the trustee and advisory board to rebuild the gym and auditorium.[34]
Construction and funding of the first Center Grove High School gymnasium in 1920-1921 was a source of controversy and yet in 1927-1928 there was no organized opposition to the construction of a second, replacement gymnasium. Sentiments expressed in newspapers of the era and the absence of organized objection to a replacement gymnasium demonstrated the proven value of a school gym to the community. Center Grove’s first gym had triggered a significant amount of community division but by the time of its destruction, a brief six years later, had become a de facto symbol of community unity.
Citations
[1] First documentation of a Center Grove basketball team appears in the Franklin Democrat, December 15, 1911, page 12. Rush’s Hall appears in local newspapers from 1911 to 1917.
[2] The location of early C.G. commencements, plays, etc. is documented in programs and local newspapers of the era.
[3] https://www.ihsaa.org/history-ihsaa
https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/Membership%20History.pdf
https://www.ihsaa.org/sites/default/files/documents/Boys%20Basketball%20Records%20Book.pdf
[4] HE END OF NOSTALGIA: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL DURING THE PROGRESSIVE ERA by Troy D. Paino, Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1997, p.87 and p.89.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Franklin Evening Star, November 15, 1919, p. 2.
[7] Franklin Evening Star, December 11, 1919, p. 2.
[8] Franklin Evening Star, November 5, 1919, p. 2.
[9] Franklin Democrat, April 9. 1919, p. 3.
[10] Indianapolis News, April 5, 1919, p. 6.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Franklin Evening Star, March 11, 1921, p. 1. / Franklin Evening Star, March 18, 1921, p.1.
[13] Franklin Evening Star, May 24, 1921, p. 1.
[14] Franklin Evening Star, June 16, 1921, p. 1.
[15] Franklin Democrat, June 24, 1921, p. 1.
[16] Franklin Evening Star, October 1, 1927, p. 1.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Records of Johnson County Circuit Court, June 18,1921, Case # 4443.
[19] Franklin Democrat, June 24, 1921, p. 1.
[20] Indianapolis News, July 13, 1921, p. 25. (note: Generators in the school building will supply electricity because at this time, electrical service did not extend to this part of Johnson County.)
[21] Franklin Democrat, November 4, 1921, p. 2.
[22] Franklin Evening Star, April 4, 1922, p. 1 / Indianapolis News, May 10, 1922, p. 3. / Reports of the Cases Decided in the Appellate Court of the State of Indiana, volume 78, 1924, p. 110, “Robert J. Johnson et all vs. James T. Paris, trustee, case # 11,207.
[23] Franklin Evening Star, May 18, 1922, p. 4.
[24] Franklin Evening Star, November 2, 1922, p. 1.
[25] Franklin Evening Star, September 13, 1922, p. 1.
[26] Franklin Evening Star, April 18, 1922, p. 1.
[27] Franklin Evening Star, April 8. 1925, p. 1.
[28] Brown County Democrat, November 22, 1923, p. 2. / Franklin Democrat, October 20, 1922, p. 2.
[29] Reporter-Times (Martinsville) April 14, 1926, p. 2. / Franklin Evening Star, March 5, 1923, p. 1.
[30] Indianapolis Star, February 5, 1928, p. 37 / Franklin Evening Star, March 14, 1928, p. 1.
[31] Franklin Evening Star, January 21, 1928, p. 1. / Franklin Evening Star, March 14, 1928, p. 1.
[32] Franklin Democtat, June 8, 1928, p. 1. / Franklin Evening Star, November 17, 1928, p. 1.
[33] Franklin Evening Star, October 3, 1927, p. 3.
[34] Franklin Evening Star, March 19, 1928, p. 1.