Salem, New Hampshire, Alumni Share Memories of Now-Demolished High School Gym

Salem High School, New Hampshire

'The Home of the Blue Devils' that sits on Geremonty Drive in Salem, New Hampshire, these days looks completely different than the Salem High School that many former and current Salem residents grew up attending.

Salem High NH Construction

The gorgeous, massive building that houses the current high school -- a four-year project that began in 2015 and was fully completed in 2019 by Harvey Construction and Lavallee Brensinger Architects -- is the result of a $75 million upgrade that was considered to be the first major renovations to the high school since it opened over 50 years ago, according to American School & University, and eliminated multiple portable classrooms.

Part of the construction that started back in 2015 included the demolition of a portion of the high school that held a lot of memories for former students.

Davis Gymnasium

Known more affectionally to students as "The Big Gym," the Davis Gymnasium was a massive gymnasium housing multiple basketball courts, gym classes, wrestling/cheerleading/gymnastics mats, gymnastics equipment, and more.

Even though the "big gym" was torn apart back in 2015, recently on the Salem New Hampshire Alumni page on Facebook, video of the demolition of the gym was posted along with a question asking alum about their memories of the big gym.

And the former Blue Devils turned up in droves to respond.

'Winter track practice and all the basketball played in the world.'
'Gym class and football weight room.
'Little League tryouts, volleyball practice, and getting powerbombed by a classmate on the gymnastics mats before class started.'
'Rope climbing.'
'Sooooooo many floor hockey games on Fridays while we were supposed to be lifting weights in strength class.'
'OMG our pep rallies and major announcements, of course.'
'Winter track practice in court #3 with throwers putting the shot put against the wall and runners hurdling into the high jump mats.'
'Dual meets under the spotlights when the gym lights went out.'
'Softball practice and basketball practice.'
'Being on the first women's gymnastics team!'
'Saturday morning wrestling practices followed by no holds barred basketball games!'

There are countless more memories posted on the page as well, which just goes to prove one thing:

You can demolish their gym and make them graduate, but you can never take the Blue Devil spirit out of SHS alum.