Doing more for ourselves In 1967, as the finishing touches were being put on Bartow’s “new” civic center, the one that replaced the Depression-era fieldstone building on North Wilson Avenue, this newspaper proudly referred to it as “Bartow’s million dollar civic center.”

We believed then, as we do now, that for a community with a population (at that time) of fewer than 13,000 residents to spend $1 million on such a quality of life facility (with an Olympic size swimming pool, eight lighted tennis courts, and many other amenities) without borrowing and without seeking federal funds was nothing short of remarkable.