What we now know as War Memorial Field was an idea as early as 1945.

The Warren Times Mirror, one of the papers that about 25 years later would merge to form the Times Observer, was the county’s dominant publication in the 1940s and 1950s.

They came out in support of a project that sounds a lot like War Memorial Field as early as Nov. 13, 1945, just months after the end of World War II.

And they did so by taking the unusual step of placing an editorial on the front page above the fold, an unusual move both then and now.

“The Warren Times-Mirror definitely favors the building of a Memorial Athletic Field as a gesture to the men and women who served in World War II,” the editorial asserts.

The editors suggested a broader project than what ultimately came to fruition much, much later.

“The Times-Mirror favors a complete Athletic Park, set-up with stadium for baseball and football, series of soft ball diamonds, tennis courts, shuffleboard installations, bathing pool, along with an auditorium capable of seating at least 4,000 persons with a commodious stage and dressing rooms for theatrical productions, church pageants, automobile shows, conventions, etc., as well as facilities for basketball, handball, boxing exhibitions, game rooms, bathing facilities for athletic teams, dancing, public forums and lectures.”

That, right there, is ambition.

The editors say that an estimate for the project – in 1945 dollars – was “in the neighborhood of $400,000. Adjusted for inflation, the project today would exceed $7 million.

“This figure is not exorbitant,” they assert, “when it is figured that all ages and classes would find recreation at the Memorial Field. Every sort of athletic endeavor would be afforded space and every age, from small fry to adults, would find something there to appeal to them.

As far as how to fund it, they called for a municipal bond issue – public funding.

“The Times-Mirror, however, does not subscribe to the popular drive for funds idea but feels that inasmuch as every person in the county would be benefited and would find the field a “center” of various endeavors that all should have an opportunity to help in the financing of the project,” they argued.

They suggested that the cost could be tacked on to an expected bond issue for a sewage project and “other post-war construction projects.”

“Feeling that this is the fair American way to build and maintain the field, the Times-Mirror would suggest that a special bond issue of $400,000 be made for the proper construction and equipping of the Memorial.”