Historic black gym in Huntersville could be demolished

A historic black gymnasium in Huntersville that for a half-century was a community gathering place faces demolition now that county officials say its aged electrical system and possible asbestos contamination make it too costly to repair.

But calls to flatten the Waymer Center – which one resident called the heart of Pottstown, Huntersville’s historically black community – has raised alarms among the alumni who earned diplomas at the school where the gym stands.

Figuring it could cost between $1 million to $2 million to give the gym an overdue upgrade, Mecklenburg County parks and recreation director Jim Garges said he wants the county to authorize tearing down the “worn out” building.

The gym is one of several old buildings that comprise the site of the Torrence-Lytle School, the first African-American high school in Huntersville. Many of those buildings belong to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, but Mecklenburg County owns the gym.

The landmarks commission has long wanted to redevelop the property. But the Waymer Center, which isn’t considered a historic landmark, isn’t part of those plans.

Now county leaders are poised to decide its fate.

“Torrence-Lytle School is the more important recreational venue up there,” Garges said. “The (gym) is old, and it has had no major repairs and improvements in years and years. So the question becomes: What’s the better use for the site? What’s a better use of the money you might spend?”

Garges said the county hasn’t determined the costs or timeline for demolition but stressed that bulldozing the gym won’t affect the adjacent 13-acre Waymer Park, home to basketball courts, softball fields, picnic tables and a playground.

“This has just been an internal recommendation at this point,” he said. “There’s no contract to demolish it.”

County Manager Dena Diorio will make the final call on demolition but last week said she will first ask county commissioners for feedback. “My understanding is that the facility is in very, very poor condition,” Diorio said. “We’ll take into account what the community (says).”

’64 grad organizes opposition

The Torrence-Lytle School opened in 1937 as the Huntersville Colored School. In 1957, it was renamed to honor two African-American community leaders who championed building a black high school in northern Mecklenburg County.

The Waymer Center went up that same year. Once the school closed in 1966, the auditorium became the go-to recreational spot for residents in the Pottstown community, east of N.C. 115 in southern Huntersville. Community sports events, ceremonies and an after-school program were held there.

That’s why plans to demolish it don’t sit well with some Torrence-Lytle alumni, such as 69-year-old B.J. Caldwell. Last week, Caldwell, who graduated from the school in 1964, started galvanizing support for an anti-demolition campaign.

She passed out fliers voicing opposition to razing the building, and she emailed county and town officials, asking them to reconsider. She’s been involved in past efforts to restore the Torrence-Lytle site and feels destroying the gym – a functional building – is a mistake.

“I can understand the town and county not wanting to expend a lot of money in fixing it up. But they’re not the only entities that have money that could fix it up,” she said. “If you’re taking away what is utilized seven days a week, year after year, and tear it down, what do you think that’s going to do to the mental psyche of the people in the community?”

‘Painful’ demo

Today, the gym houses a number of community functions, including an after-school program run by the town of Huntersville’s park and recreation department. The program, which enrolls about 25 students, will move elsewhere, Town Manager Greg Ferguson said.

The town, which leased the building from the county for $1, plans to vacate the building entirely by the end of the month. “My understanding is that the county is looking to clear the site this fall,” Ferguson said.

Willie Crite, president of the Torrence-Lytle School Alumni Association, started school there in fourth grade. He graduated in 1966 as part of the last group of seniors to leave Torrence-Lytle before its doors shuttered.

Since then, the association has used the gym for alumni reunions and awards ceremonies to “keep the school name and spirit going,” he said. They’ll now look for new space for their gatherings, including a 50-year homecoming celebration planned for next year.

For Crite, 66, news of the gym’s demolition dealt a hurtful blow.

“It’s kind of painful to a lot of us that it’s going to be … knocked down,” he said. “The gym … that was one of our favorite places.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2015 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Historic black gym in Huntersville could be demolished."