Porterdale Gym

The Porterdale Gym was dedicated in November of 1938 as a gift to the people of Porterdale from James Porter, in honor of his father and city founder, Oliver Porter.  The gym featured a central basketball court with elevated bleacher on all sides sufficient to accommodate the entire town.  Space below the bleachers housed dressing rooms and offices.  The first basketball games was played in the gym on December 3, 1938 between Porterdale and Livingstone.  The gym was used for athletic events, physical education classes, school plays, piano classes, and as a meeting place for the Porterdale Woman's Club.  The highlight of the year was the community Christmas Program.  A large Christmas tree stood in the center of the court, surrounded by boxes of fruits and nuts - one for each child in the community.

 

The center of Porterdale's recreational and social life for forty years, the gym fell into disuse as the mill and the community declined.  The building was unoccupied and in poor condition when it was destroyed by fire on October 20, 2005.  Constructed with wooden floors, room, and bleachers, nothing remained except the brick walls.

 

In 2007, a small group of people were inspired to found The Friend's of Porterdale with the stated intent of raising funds to restore the gym to its former glory.  The city government joined the effort.  A complete renovation was determined to be well beyond the available resources, so it was decided to repurpose the burnt gym as an open air venue for various events.  Along with the private funds raised by FOP, $950,000 from the 2012 SPLOST was dedicated to the effort.

 

The architect for the Porterdale Gym was a woman by the name of Ellamae Ellis League.  Female architects were extremely rare during the time, making up 2% of American architects in 1934 while women who were principals in their own firm were almost nonexistent.  Surprisingly, League opened up her own practice in 1934 under her own name.  Born in Macon on July 9, 1899, League graduated from Lanier High School in 1916 and briefly attended Wesleyan College.  She then started her architect career out of necessity in 1922 when she was divorced and has two children.  Although she had no formal training when she first began, she did have six generations of family that had been architects.  League joined a Macon firm as an apprentice and took correspondence courses from the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York City.  To add to her education she then spent a year from 1927-1928 studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France.  Once she earned her professional registration for architecture she opened her own firm in 1934, which she ran for 41 years from 1934-1975.  Ellamae Ellis League died on March 4, 1991.