History
The Wallace Civic Center opened in 1970 due to funding by George Wallace, a Fitchburg resident. it consisted of two separate ice rinks and a planetarium.
In the nearly 40 years since the Civic Center opened, it has hosted public skating, summer camps, hockey leagues, figure skating, trade shows, concerts, tournaments, events and private functions. Notably it has hosted a moon rock and hockey games featuring the Boston Bruins.
During the 1990s the Civic Center witnessed a large number of performances by large Alternative rock bands such as Nirvana, The Foo Fighters, Jane's Addiction, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fugazi, Soundgarden, and Rage Against the Machine. As the Civic Center slowly fell into disrepair over the course of the decades the planetarium had to be closed, and concerts fell into disfavor.
Control and ownership of the Civic Center was transferred from the City of Fitchburg to Fitchburg State University in August, 2007. Since this transfer, the college has performed many upgrades to the Civic Center. These include new roofing, new ice making machinery and ventelation, and overall refurbishment. They have also transformed the Landry Arena into an indoor turf field.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)