Daryl Cochrane and Melissa Poff, both of Franklin, work out in February 2008 at Anytime Fitness in Franklin.
Daily Journal Archives
News from around Johnson County as reported on Feb. 22 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 112 years.
On this day in 2008, the main story on the front page of the Daily Journal was about local exercise facilities fighting for customers.
If residents want to exercise at 3:30 a.m., there were at least two Johnson County gyms that could accommodate them. If you wanted a quick, intense lunchtime workout, that was available too.
Four new gyms had been built in the county since 2006, and it took effort for the facilities to set themselves apart.
But older private fitness centers were planning ways to compete by updating and buying new equipment.
The boom in exercise facilities was a bit of a surprise, said Ed Ferguson, Greenwood’s planning director.
“I don’t know why these gyms are coming in, but it brings jobs and people to the city,” he said.
LA Fitness was built on State Road 135 in Greenwood in 2007, and a Cardinal Fitness was constructed on the same road a year earlier.
Anytime Fitness center opened in the Marsh Plaza in Franklin the previous September, and in Main Street Shoppes on South Emerson Avenue in Greenwood a couple of months earlier too.
Another LA Fitness was under construction on Southport Road on the southside too.
Anytime Fitness in Franklin targeted people who wanted to work out whenever they felt like it. It was open 24 hours a day, and customers had their own keys to the building, manager Susan Canary said.
Customer Lyn Koenig said she never had a reason to miss a trip to the gym now.
“A lot of people don’t know what their schedule is every day and when they can work out,” she said. “With this gym, there’s no excuse.”
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
1999
A Johnson County jail inmate was back at the jail after faking a major injury to his back.
1994
Local trash haulers were on strike after failed contract negotiations.
1974
The county chamber backed Edinburgh in their opposition to the end of railroad service.
