“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:
• A LANDMARK THAT OVERLOOKED DAILY LIFE IN GARVIN SINCE THE DAYS OF THE HORSE AND BUGGY IS NO MORE.
The town’s dilapidated 1911 brick school building was demolished in this year, pulling a shroud over a once proud symbol of Lyon County School District 47.
“It had to come down,” said Garvin Mayor Jim Julien. “It was a safety hazard and a haven for rodents. Probably a third of the building had fallen down already.”
The two-story, four-room school building bid farewell to its last students in the spring of 1971, and had subsequently fallen into disrepair.
Gaping holes in the building’s roof and walls had been visible for years.
The City of Garvin ordered that the building be razed or repaired last year. Troy Thompson Construction of Minneota handled the demolition.
“It just was amazing the various colors of brick that had been used and as it came down, it reminded you of scenes out of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies,” recounted Jan Bornitz, who was among those who watched the demolition.
Bats and raccoons were observed fleeing the structure as the demolition progressed.
“It was a good place,” said Anna Gene Burke, retired teacher who was one of the last instructors.
• Last week’s answer: What was said to be the most costly fire in Currie’s history lighted the pre-dawn sky in north-central Murray County in 1983
