“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• TRACY CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE DECIDED TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THE TRACY PRAIRIE PAVILION IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR.
On a 5-0 vote, the council voted to change the building’s name to the Veterans’ Memorial Center, in honor of Tracy area servicemen who have lost their lives in the military.
Mayor Steve Ferrazzano, who recommended the change, said that he wanted to honor local military personnel who have lost their lives in the service of their country.
Along with the name change, council members also gave their blessings to the idea of giving recognition to fallen military veterans in the building’s front entry. Names of Tracy servicemen, dating back to the town’s incorporation in the 19th century, would be posted on a wall. Memorabilia from servicemen would be displayed in glass display cases.
“One reason for this is the fact that a lot of kids use that building. I want them to know that there was a heavy price to pay for the freedoms that they enjoy,” the mayor said.
The recommendations were developed by the mayor and a group of local veterans that included Red Brekken, Darrel Janssen, Dale Klein, and Garry Hippe. The mayor received permission from other council members to form the committee, after the Feb. 21 death of Tracy’s Lt. Jason Timmerman in Iraq. Ferrazzano told council members that he wanted to find some way of honoring Timmerman and other local soldiers who had lost their lives in the military.
The Prairie Pavilion was built in 1957-58 as an armory for the Minnesota National Guard unit then based in Tracy. The City of Tracy chipped in $65,000 to have the new armory attached to Tracy City Hall. The large auditorium and gymnasium was used extensively by Tracy High School athletic teams until a new Tracy Area High School opened.
• Last week’s answer: Drifts estimated to be 10 to 14 feet high plugged Greenwood Avenue and other parts of Tracy, and one of the most massive snow accumulations in the region blocked Highway 14 in 1979.
