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SHS Gym & Auditorium

millinockethistsoc

     Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!

By Trudy Wyman, Curator, Millinocket Society Museum

               

100 years ago, 1925, the new Stearns High School building was in use for the students of Millinocket. However, at that time, there was no gymnasium or auditorium, but both were part of the original plan. The 1925 yearbook briefly describes what was to come for both of these spaces. Three sides of the proposed spaces were completed as part of the previous building construction. The plans called for the “gymnasium to be one of the best in the state.”

The gym would have “an office for the physical director, a room for rubbing tables and first aid treatment.” There would be a ticket office. The proposed gym floor would be 105 feet long by 55 feet wide. The balcony would seat over 400 spectators. Note: the museum has 2 of those 2 seat balcony sections which we hope to display soon. The gym would extend through two stories with the auditorium above an additional two stories.

It is unclear when the “new” gym was first used for a basketball game. The 1926 yearbook states the girls’ team is “looking forward to some fast games in the new gymnasium which will, no doubt, be ready for their practice during the next basketball season.” Until the gym was available, all basketball games were played at the Armory. Rallies were usually held prior to basketball games (both girls’ and boys’ games). One yearbook states “they were well attended by both girls and boys whose hearty cheering filled the Armory and made “the old roof shake.”

  The gym was the site of the SHS Junior Exhibition of 1928 and is described as “the first to be held in the gymnasium.” It is unclear whether that was the first event held there or just the first time the Junior Exhibition was held there.

The new SHS auditorium would by be served by the same ticket office as the gym. The stage would be 60 feet by 30 feet and fill one end of the hall. The orchestra floor and balcony combined would seat over 800 people.

  The “spacious, beautiful auditorium” wasn’t completed until 1948. Folding doors separated it from the two classrooms in the rear. The floors were maple and the ceiling white Celotex. The upper portion of the walls was yellow Celotex and the lower part buff-colored. The stage was described as having ample space and was equipped with colored floodlights, spotlights and footlights. Heavy blue velvet curtains added to the beauty of the stage. The heating was from an up-to-date air conditioning system. Total cost was about $50,000!

Student descriptions in the 1948 yearbooks state this new space had already hosted the regional one-act play contest, and the Spear Speaking Contest, both for the first time. Also, the auditorium had been loaned to many civilian defense organizations and had been the scene of all school social events.

Both additions to Stearns High School would become the site for many memorable events through the years!



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Our Mission: Since it was founded in 1979, the Historical Society’s mission has been to preserve, maintain, and display the chronicles, culture, and gathered past of those that came before us.

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