Halfway point reached in Peterson Gym restoration
DECATUR — In this day and age, it is easier to tear down an old building and put up a new structure. But for members of the Decatur School District, the question was not to tear down but to restore, thus “the old made new again.”
At the end of the 2021-22 basketball season, work began on restoring the 51-year-old Peterson Gym, the home of both Decatur Bulldog boys’ and girls’ basketball programs and soon to be the home of the volleyball program. Peterson Gym, built in 1971, is currently undergoing its second major renovation in its prestigious life.
Since the restoration began in early March, the gym is nearing its halfway point. At present, all of the interior demolition is complete. All the old floor tiles have been removed from the concession stand, restrooms, concession hallway and locker rooms and aisles in the gym itself.
The restrooms and locker rooms have a new onepiece floor system called flex coat epoxy coating. The restrooms and locker room now have new fixtures, including enclosed showers.
Also installed the week of May 23 were the two large air handling ducts. This ductwork is the same type used in the Decatur Middle School gym and the high school cafeteria. For 51 years, any programs — including graduation ceremonies — have been warm and sometimes very uncomfortable. With the new heat and air system, which is one of the main objectives of this restoration project, athletic and special programs will now be more comfortable for all.
On Friday, May 27, the three court-side walls received two coats of paint which revealed the new color scheme the school board decided upon during the final design phase before construction began.
The old scheme had two blue horizontal stripes with a yellow one in between about halfway down the three main walls. The new scheme has vertical panels of alternating blue-yellowblue on each wall that run from the floor to the bottom of the window sills.
From the top of the window frames and the entire ceiling, the gym is painted white, which brightens the interior substantially. With new LED lighting, the dark spots that plagued the gym over the years are now gone.
One problem that recently cropped up was the old roof’s ability to handle the weight load of the new air handlers. In 1971, and again in the early ’90s, the building had heater units mounted in a room on the side of the gym and later one larger gas unit suspended above the west basketball nets.
The high-capacity air handlers are much heavier and required a strong roof system that Peterson did not have. This problem was easily fixed and the roof and surrounding structures are currently being reinforced to handle the weight requirements of the new units.
The progress made over the last few weeks will allow the contractors to finish the job by the time school starts on August 15. Once complete, Peterson Gym in Decatur will regain its Bulldog Pride, which was lost over time, and a new chapter in the Bulldogs’ basketball and volleyball programs will soon begin.