The Women's Gymnasium was the fifth permanent building on the Sam Houston Normal Institute campus.
A large, temporarily wooden building that served as a gymnasium was on this site for many years [1]. The site, part of the 12-acre tract of land belonging to A.T. McKinney, was purchased by the state in 1912-13 thereby allowing the college to expand southward.
Built on the eastern side of the quadrangle, the three-story building measured 50-by-92 feet and was constructed of “cream-colored brick and reinforced concrete [and]...decorated with concrete stone faced with marble” [1].
On the ground floor was one of the first indoor swimming pools in east Texas (measuring 34-by-38 feet); it was later covered over by a gym floor and allegedly forgotten until the building was being prepared for demolition. The second story contained classrooms, offices, and the gymnasium; the third floor contained the gym gallery and a larger classroom.
An addition completed in 1960 extended the building northward toward the Peabody Library. At one point the university post office was located in the gym's basement.
At the suggestion of the Campus Master Plan the gym was demolished. The site is now home to the Rather Communication Building. The offices and classrooms found in both the men’s and women’s gymnasiums were later consolidated into the Health-Kinesiology Center.
