Haines High School

Located between North Powder and Baker City on Highway 30, Haines, Oregon was founded in 1885 by Isreal David Haines, a local rancher who owned 1,200 acres of local farmland.

In 1884 the Oregon Navigation and Railroad Company created a depot at Haines and was soon a "major supplier of mining, timber, and agriculture products for the Portland markets."



With the town emerging thanks to the railroad and the timber and mining industries, a school was built in 1914 to support local school-children. From the start, the gymnasium was inadequate for the local basketball teams.

The PTA and School District began fundraising for a new facility and by 1931, the PTA had amassed $2,100 and the district had gathered $2,800. The throes of the great depression seems like an odd time to build a gymnasium, but material and labor was cheap and plentiful so the townsfolk broke ground on the new gymnasium.

Lee Duncan donated the land and C.H. Losey was contracted to build a 96' x 60' building with an arched roof, factory maple floors and showers. Losey was also required to use local labor to complete the construction. Total cost: $5,000.

The gym was completed and opened with a January 15 gala ball. For the next several decades the gym became the crown jewell and heartbeat of Haines. Any game, dinner, party or dance held by the community of Haines was held at the gym. Basketball games remained a place of refuge as the town and school began to shrink.

By the end of World War II, the Haines School District was consolidated with the Baker School District and students began attending school in Baker. The gymnasium was deeded over to the city provided it remain in the public domain.

In 1959, the Haines community incorporated the Eastern Oregon Museum and the City deeded the gymnasium to the newly formed Museum.

According to Mal Van Meer, the old baskets that so many shots swished through, now have deer antlers hanging from them as part of the museum.

Links:

City of Haines, Oregon
Eastern Oregon Museum
Mal Van Meer's Oregon Prep Bureau