Osborn Gym

View through the screen of the famous second floor hallway window. The double doors on the left lead to the equipment room, the single door to the Boys' Locker Room and the single door in the far corner to the Girls' Locker Room.

This was the site of science fairs, soapbox derby races, plays, Christmas pageants, and the annual PTA festival. I recall a student production of Huck Finn and another about the Town Musicians of Bremen, the stage was under the east basket.

Inside what remains of the former Boys' Locker Room of the Osborn Gymnasium. What happened to the "lockers"?

The gym was not just a classroom but a basketball venue where the 7th and 8th graders played their counterparts from the other elementary schools. At least until those grades were moved to the Junior High School in the fall of 1962. Some of us used it as Junior High football players that fall as our after school practices were held nearby at Duff Field. When this was a locker room it had lockers, benches, showers, a toilet and a sink; the lockers were along the wall and a wooden bench ran down the middle from door to window - dividing the room. It was small - designed to accommodate a squad of basketball players. At some point everything was torn out and carpet was put down over the tile.

The Girls' Locker Room, identical to the Boys' Locker Room as both were set up for use during inter-school boys' basketball games. I don't recall either being used for gym class. The layout was identical but a mirror image. Although the bench and lockers have been removed, the original look is still easy to visualize. Fulton tied these rooms to the new addition by using the same faux stone flooring with brass seams, marble partitions were used in all the 1949 rest rooms.

A view from inside the large store room. Note the giant return air duct, Osborn was heated by a forced air system - we kids did not discover the hiss of escaping steam until we got to Junior High.

The remaining gym photos (below) were taken on Saturday July 11, 2015. This was the last day of access to the school, that afternoon it was locked up and the asbestos removal contractor took over from the janitorial staff. There are still a few auction items to be removed but the basketball baskets are gone as is the scoreboard, which was on the wall just above the clock.

Note the floors different tone near the wall. That was where the bleachers rested when retracted, they were five to six rows high and presented a six foot high wooden wall when retracted. Several years ago they were removed and replaced with a rock climbing wall.

At some point over the years a critical feature was eliminated. Horizontally bolted to the wall (where that white board is in the photo) was a wooden ladder on a slight angle. You grabbed one of the lower rungs and when hand over hand rung by rung to the top; they you let go and dropped to the floor. This was a lesser version of the climbing rope torture device, that rope was actually still around and was one of the items in the auction.

In many ways the gym and the entire new addition still look new to me. They have aged extremely well thanks to the timeless design. But it was definitely better when much of the north wall above the bleachers was glass block.

Viewed from the gym floor - the famous second floor hallway window. I seriously considered buying this window, with its metal frame and protective grate. Peering through it down to the gym was a fascinating thing to me when I was a child, even as an adult I got a rush each time I approached it.

I must confess to spending a lot of my gym time staring at the ceiling, the panels look like huge slabs of shredded wheat painted white. If you look closely at the girder you can see a blue kickball and a football. Most likely they have been there for some time, most certainly they did not get there by accident as we tried to stick balls up there 50+ years ago.