Gym: Encyclopedia II - Gym - History of the Gym
Gym - History of the Gym
Gymnasiums in Germany were an outgrowth of the Turnplatz, an outdoor area for gymnastics, promoted by German educator Friedrich Jahn and the Turners, a nineteenth-century political and gymnastic movement. The first indoor gymnasium in Germany was probably the one built in Hesse in 1852 by Adolph Spiess, an enthusiast for boys' and girls' gymnastics in the schools. In the United States, the Turner movement thrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first Turners group was formed in Cincinnati in 1848. The Turners built gymnasiums in several cities like Cincinnati and St. Louis which had large German American populations. These gyms were utilized by adults and youth. For example, a young Lou Gehrig would frequent the Turner gym in New York City with his father.
Gymnasiums in the United States predate the Turner movement. A public gymnasium movement sprung up in the 1820s and 1830s but was eclipsed by the growth of school, college, and YMCA gymnasiums. The first college gymnasium probably was the one built at Harvard University in 1820. Although privately owned, it was maintained for the use of the students. Like most of the gymnasiums of the period, it was equipped with gymnastic apparatus. The United States Military Academy at West Point built a gym during the same era. A few other American colleges built gyms by the 1850s. Harvard opened a new brick gymnasium in 1860 with two bowling alleys and dressing rooms in addition to the gymnasitc facility.
The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) first organized in Boston 1851. Ten years later there were some two hundred YMCAs across the country, most of which provided gymnasiums for exercise and games.
The 1920s was a decade of prospierity that witnessed the building of large numbers of public high schools with gymnasiums. Over the course of the twentieth century gymnasiums have been reconceptualized to accommodate the popular team and individual games and sports that have suppplanted gymnastics in the school curriculum.
Today, it is the norm for virtually all American colleges and high schools to have gymnasiums. Many middle schools also have built gyms, as have a few elementary schools. These facilities are utilized for physical education, intramural sports and interscholastic athletics.
Other related archives
Cincinnati, Exercise, Friedrich Jahn, German American, Harvard University, Hesse, Lou Gehrig, New York City, St. Louis, Turners, United States, United States Military Academy, YMCA, ancient Greece, bathing, curriculum, education, elementary schools, gymnasium (school), high schools, intramural sports, middle schools, naked, physical education, sports.
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