Battle Creek’s Field House Looks Just Like the Hall of Justice – And That Makes Us all Superheroes

We recently took a look at the history of the Battle Creek Central High School Field House. On social media, someone commented how much the iconic downtown building looked like the Hall of Justice from the Superfriends cartoon series. And lo and behold - it sure does.

The building in Battle Creek would be considered Art Deco and was built in 1928 as the Sanitarium Union, part of the sprawling former Percy Jones Army Hosptial, née Battle Creek Sanitarium complex.

With the arch and two pillar designs, it's easy to see the comparisons to the Hall of Justice, originally featured in the Hanna Barbara cartoon Super Friends.

The Real Hall of Justice

Just as you might see the resemblance between the fictional Hall of Justice and the Battle Creek Field House, so too much you see a connection with this building:

That's Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio. And it turns out this building, originally built in 1933 was the inspiration for the Hall of Justice in the cartoon series. As the story goes,

Union Terminal inspired the design of the Hall of Justice, a fictional Justice League headquarters appearing in comic books, television, and other media published by DC Comics. The Hall of Justice first appeared in the 1970s animated series Super Friends. The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera, a division of Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting. One of the animators, Al Gmuer, likely visited the terminal while attending meetings, and confirmed he was inspired by the terminal in designing the superhero headquarters.

So perhaps the Battle Creek Sanitarium Union, having predated Union Terminal by two years could have been the inspiration for that building, meaning the Battle Creek's Field House is the true Hall of Justice. Who knows?