GARNER — The tiny rural town of Garner has a population of fewer than 300, but what it lacks in size is more than made up for in community spirit. That is especially true when it comes to keeping the town’s history alive in the form of the gymnasium that has been standing in the White County community since the 1930s.
“It’s a piece of history in our community,” said Kathy Barnes, who, along with her mother, Katheryn Smith, has led the way in organizing work and fundraising projects to keep the building relevant.
“We want to keep it usable for kids and the elderly,” Barnes said.
Each year, the gym is the site of a school reunion for those who attended Garner Public Schools. Once home to the Garner Dragons, the gym was left intact for the community to use after the school consolidated with Beebe in 1949, said William Leach, a member of the White County Historical Society and a former Garner Dragon.
“I’m amazed at how well the building has held up over the years,” Leach said. The gym was built in the 1930s as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Program. The program’s Works Progress Administration constructed roads and community works buildings, including gymnasiums for schools in White County.
Standard blueprints called for sets of bleachers on each side of the gym floor, with a stage on the end. However, the Garner district was so small that its gym was built with bleachers on one side and a stage on the other, with dressing rooms located under the bleachers, Leach said.
Perhaps the most significant testament to the building’s durability is the fact that the original flooring is in place, especially since the gymnasium was basically built on flat ground in an area where water often stands.
“The floor is solid,” Leach said. He explained that dry concrete was spread over the ground and packed down where the gym was to be built to form its foundation.
Even though the gym continued to be used as a community gathering spot and a place for kids to play on rainy days after the town’s school consolidation, the building eventually became dilapidated. The community then banded together to make improvements to the historic structure, including applying a new coat of paint and replacing siding on the building’s exterior.
Barnes said the late Dr. Larry Six, who lived next to the gym, contributed greatly to the renovation project. Help also came in the form of a rural development grant and former White County Sheriff Pat Garrett’s willingness to let trusties from the White County Detention Center work on the project.
Three fundraisers are held annually to keep the Garner Gymnasium up and running. The most successful of these continues to be the Fall Carnival, which has been a staple of the community since the event’s inception as the Halloween Carnival in the 1930s. The event takes place on the first Saturday of October and draws 150 to 200 people for old-fashioned fun that includes activities like a cake walk and bobbing for apples.
Fall charity bingo and a spring fundraising function also benefit continued work on the building.
For more information on the historic Garner Gymnasium, call (501) 207-1407.