Decatur’s new Ebster Gym finally opens

Decatur opened the new Ebster Gym this week with a youth league basketball game featuring honorary captains Mayor Jim Baskett and former Mayor Elizabeth Wilson. The only woman and African-American mayor in Decatur history, Wilson moved to the city in 1949, the same year the original Ebster was built in the same spot. The new gym keeps the original brick facade. Ebster’s opening nearly completes the $32.5 million Beacon Municipal Center (or $38.4 million, counting City Schools Decatur’s central office). Beacon is the final project in the 10-year capital improvements program where the city has renovated and/or rebuilt all its major public facilities.