SUMMERVILLE, Ga. – The former A.C. Carter High School gym, which most recently was part of the old North Summerville Elementary School, has been revived as a community athletic facility thanks to the county school system, a local foundation and lots of hard work, officials said.
“I think it’s great for the community. It’s a place where all the kids in the community can be served,” former teacher and Carter graduate Maxine Mosely West said.
The building, now dubbed the A.C. Carter School Dewey Hoskins Gym, was given to the city of Summerville by Chattooga County Schools.
Kris Willis, program director for the Summerville Recreation Department, said the gift will serve the community for years to come.
“Next Thursday, we’ll actually be playing our first games over here,” Willis said while flipping through a scrapbook of before-and-after photos.
The old gym has new paint, a new stage floor and renovated bathrooms. New basketball goals on the way, officials said.
The A.C. Carter school served the black community. The gym was built in the 1964-65 school year, just before schools were integrated, West said.
“Integration was in ’66; the last graduating class was in ’66,” she said.
The old high school then became part of North Summerville Elementary School, which it remained until a handful of years ago, West said.
Work started on the building three years ago, Willis said.
“We’ve done most of the labor ourselves,” he said.
The city got a bit less than $20,000 in grants through the Menlo Tillotson Charitable Trust to pay for the work, he said.
The only contract work was the installation of bathroom tile, said Recreation Department worker Frankie Lee, who attended the school as a child.
Lee said he and fellow worker James Hayes did all the interior painting and stripped the gym floor twice before reapplying a shiny new finish.
Ruth Hoskins, 82, said she worked 16 years at the school, including six years as the physical education director. She and her husband, Dewey, are proud the facility now carries his name to honor his years as a Summerville city councilman.
Hoskins said the gym was relatively new and in good shape when she taught there. The renovation has brought the old gym new life, she said.
“The floor looks better, and the bathrooms,” she said. “It was up to par.”