Davidson's 1937 Gym Is Open Again. Here's How the Week Runs Inside It.

"We had no town-owned, indoor recreation space," Leslie Willis, Davidson's Director of Parks and Recreation, told News of Davidson shortly before the gym reopened this summer. "This great building will allow us to have our own space where we can schedule for the needs of our own community. We will not have to worry now about scheduling in numerous other places."

That quote explains what the 251 Historic Gymnasium at 251 South Street is for. People have mostly talked about it as a preservation project, a 1937 building saved from decline. Now that the fall schedule is posted, it reads more like the town's first shared indoor floor. Nearly every hour on the calendar is open play. Leagues and private bookings fill very little of the week, and the slots are split carefully by age.

A Building That Has Already Served Four Schools

The gym opened with a ribbon cutting on June 20, 2026. A large crowd came to the ceremony, toured the building and watched the first game of knockout. According to Willis, the building has been the gym for a high school, an elementary school, an IB middle school and a private school. She also called it "centrally located and walkable for many Davidson residents." The gym and the main Town Hall and Community Center building at 251 South Street were designated historic landmarks in 2012.

Town staff compared the old building with other town properties before choosing it. Their conclusion was that restoring the gym was the best and most economical way to meet the town's indoor recreation needs. The rehabilitation cost $3.648 million. A Mecklenburg County grant from its American Rescue Plan Act fund covered $2 million, and most of the town's share came from Davidson's 2017 bond referendum.

What the Money Went Into

Much of that budget paid for things regular players will notice on their first visit:

• The windows are the originals. The frames contained asbestos, so every window went to a company in Greensboro that replaced the old material and kept the panes. Some panes are clear and some are frosted.
• The maple floor is new. The old floor couldn't be saved. The new one was stained dark to match the original color, and natural light falls on it the way it did in 1937, as Town Project Manager Doug Wright put it.
• The basketball goals adjust. The building couldn't carry ceiling-mounted goals, so the goals stand on two steel posts and lower to eight feet for younger kids.
• There are three restrooms. One ADA-accessible restroom is on the main level and two more are on the lower level, along with added storage.
• The roof and lights were upgraded. The interior of the roof is now insulated and the lighting is LED.

Some of the work is less visible. Crews dug out a large amount of soil to bring the building back to its original elevations, which also eased water problems. The new parking added paved surface, so the town built a stormwater retention pond on the site and buried six-foot-diameter detention pipes. The aim was to keep runoff from leaving the property any faster than it did before construction. At ground level, the brick changes color where the soil used to sit.

Creech and Associates designed the project, with Rusty Miller as lead architect, and Balfour Beatty Construction built it.

The October Week, Session by Session

The town said in June that its second annual Party with Park and Rec on July 25 would introduce the fall gym schedule and rental availability. That schedule now appears on the Town's RecDesk calendar. For October 2026, every session listed at the Historic Davidson Gymnasium follows this weekly pattern:

Who the Schedule Is Built Around

The table shows the gym's priorities. Children 5 and under get two weekly Tot Time blocks, on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons. Kids 15 and under get after-school basketball on Sundays and Thursdays. Players 16 and older get four basketball windows, including a Thursday midday session that suits people who can step away at lunch. Tuesday works as the family evening, with all-ages volleyball leading into the Family Open Gym.

Volleyball was part of the plan from the beginning. Recreation Operations Manager Gina Carmon described the court in June as serving what has recently become the fastest-growing youth sport. Pickleball and a non-regulation full basketball court round out the floor. For now, pickleball has a single listed window, Monday from noon to 3 p.m., so evening players have no weekly slot on the October calendar.

Fridays have no gym sessions in October, and Saturdays are used only for the Youth Fit classes late in the month. Functional Fitness meets at the gym on Thursday evenings. The Tuesday evening and weekday morning sessions of the same class meet at the Town Hall Lower Level, so check the location before you go. The calendar doesn't list any youth volleyball or adult basketball leagues at the gym. Basketball, pickleball and volleyball all run as open play. The town hasn't published November or December gym schedules yet.

Willis has said she wants the building's use "to evolve and grow" and that the department will take residents' suggestions, "because this gym belongs to everyone." The October schedule is a starting point and will likely change.

When You Want the Floor to Yourself

The gym can also be rented. Under Davidson's FY 2027 fee schedule, effective September 22, 2026, the Historic Gymnasium costs $45 an hour for residents and $90 an hour for non-residents. Under the same schedule, a resident pays $25 an hour for an athletic field for a game and $50 an hour for the Town Hall Lower Level. A birthday party or a team practice in the gym costs about the same as renting other town spaces.

Two points remain unclear. The public pages we reviewed don't list a drop-in charge for open gym sessions, so confirm with Parks and Recreation before assuming they're free. RecDesk also shows the gym's details and calendar but no online reservation option. Calling the department directly is the reliable way to book.

The building also helps on rainy summer days. Willis said outdoor summer camps now rotate on a schedule so the gym can serve as their backup venue, which means a rainy day no longer forces a cancellation.

Fitting It Into the Rest of October

The gym's schedule lines up with several other dates in town this month. On Thursday, October 22, youth open gym runs 4 to 6 p.m. The next afternoon, Friday, October 23, pumpkin carving runs from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on the Town Green as Halloweekend begins. Lineup for the Halloween March on Main Street starts at 5 p.m. at 216 S. Main Street. The Jack O Lantern Walk stays on the Town Green through October 30. On Saturday, October 24, Youth Fit Kids starts at 9:30 a.m. and Youth Fit Tweens and Teens follows at 10:30.

Kindred, Joe and Katy Kindred's restaurant on N. Main Street, has been closed for nearly five months after a small fire. It announced in late September that it is taking dinner reservations starting October 20. That means the first week of Halloweekend is also the first week Kindred plans to serve dinner again.

Before you go, check the Town's RecDesk calendar for the current location of each session, especially Functional Fitness, which meets at the gym on Thursday evenings and at Town Hall on other days.

The team at Christy Walker & Associates follows changes like this one, because a new public space affects how a Davidson street works day to day. If you'd like to know how a walk to 251 South Street or a short drive to the gym looks from a particular part of town, request a personalized Lake Norman market consultation and we'll go over it with you.