By Gwen Willems

Do you travel along Cleveland Ave­nue and wonder about the long brick building about a block south of Larpenteur Avenue?

It is the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Gymnasium, which opened in 1915 and now serves about 1,000 visitors daily during the academic year. Today it contains three floors of modern amenities and services.

The Gym offers an astounding array of ways to stay fit: exercise machines, a suspended track, a group exercise studio with video screen, a mat room, locker rooms, handball and racquetball courts, multipurpose rooms, an 8-lane swimming pool, a 24-foot rock wall and bouldering cave, outdoor track, playing field, softball field and tennis courts.

Jaime Medina, director of the S. Paul Facilities, said he likes working at the Gym because “I am able to provide recreational opportunities to help people stay active. I am also appreciative of the relationships that have developed with the students and communities that use our facilities.

“What makes the St Paul Gymnasium unique is the variety of activities that can be done here,” he added.

We talked with a few St. Anthony Park residents who use the facilities for convenient exercise. Swimming laps was most popular with them, but folks also do many activities. Here is a sample of their feedback:

Steven McCarthy, who has used the Gymnasium since joining the university faculty in 1998, said, “I typically lift weights there twice a week now. But in the past I have used the exercise bikes, run on the indoor track and practiced Tae Kwon Do.”

McCarthy uses this gym because “free membership is included with my health insurance plan, UCare, and I live a half mile west of the gym so it’s convenient to go there.”

Alumna Cari Kidd has used the gym since 2001 and goes there six times a week.

“I like to swim laps, work out on the elliptical machine, lift free weights, and use the weight machines,” she said. “I like the campus gym because I can walk there and it’s inexpensive compared to corporate chains. Also, the clientele at the St. Paul Gym is more ordinary people, not the fitness-crazed folks you might find at a more hardcore gym.”

During the last two years, faculty and staff member Kyle Maurer has been lifting weights, swimming, using rowing machines and running on treadmills at the Gymnasium.

“I love that I can walk to it, about a 5-minute walk,” he said. “Hours are generally workable, from early a.m. to evening. Less crowded than Midway YMCA, with comparable equipment.”

Faculty spouse Victoria Tirrel wrote from her vacation in Hawaii to say, “I’ve worked out at the St. Paul Gym for more than 10 years and love the place. I swim and use the machines (usually working on the latter with a trainer). I am almost 65 years old … and it often surprises people what they see me doing there.”

One thing Jonathan Kirsch likes is “The proximity. I like that it has a very historic feel; modern gyms feel a little too cold and generic with all of the huge glass windows.”

He praised a staff member: “Emily is an awesome HIIT [High-Intensity Interval Training] instructor and has continued to teach, in person and online, from being a student to a post-doc and now in a professional job. She’s a real gem.”

 Not many drawbacks to the Gymnasium were mentioned—the cold temperature of the pool, treadmills facing the wall, the lack of a whirlpool, and fellow exercisers who monopolize equipment when on their phones.

Registration fees for use of the Gymnasium vary, depending on whether you are a student, faculty, staff, retiree, alum, community resi­dent, sponsored member or guest. For membership details and promotions go to https://recwell.umn.edu/member-services/membership.

You can also find an interactive online calendar and a reservation page. To tour the facilities, stop by the Gymnasium or call (612) 625-8283 to set up an appointment. 

Gwen Willems lives in Falcon Heights and is a Bugle freelance writer.

Photo cutline: St. Paul Gymnasium. Photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota.