News: Neillsville -
Prock Park To Be Dedicated (Sep 2021)
Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail:
dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Prock, Petkovsek, Listeman, O’Brien, Keller
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 8/25/2021
Prock Park To Be Dedicated (2 September 2021)
Prock Park To Be Dedicated September 2
There will be a ceremony next week to dedicate Prock Park in Neillsville. The
park celebrates the history of the Prock family, which owned the Northside Store
on the same property decades ago.
By Ryan Spoehr
Neillsville’s newest park will have its official dedication after being
established more than a year ago.
Prock Park will officially be dedicated in a ceremony Thursday, Sept. 2 at 2
p.m. The community is invited to attend.
The park is on the sliver of land on the north side of Neillsville just before
the city limits along Highway 73 between Hewett Street and Black River Road.
It is a site of historical significance in the city. The land was owned by
Harold and Pearl Prock who operated Prock’s Northside Store from 1950 to 1973.
The dedication will be a culmination of an effort by the city’s beautification
committee to make the park a reality.
“The park is a work-in-progress and will develop over the next year or two,”
wrote Barb Petkovsek, a member of the committee, in an email. “The
beautification committee is grateful for a grant from the Listeman Foundation
and a gift from Caroline Prock O’Brien, which allows us to display a first
impression as people enter our great city on the north end of town.”
The first impression is a “Welcome to Neillsville” sign with the façade facing
the north for people coming into Neillsville to see. The back has a message
inviting people to come back to the city.
Pictured is one of the plaques on a stone in Prock Park that explains the
history of the site and what it has meant to the community. Ryan Spoehr/Clark
County Press photos
Also, there are two plaques on either side of a large rock at the park, which
will be on display during the dedication.
One of the plaques references the history of the store and information about the
Prock family.
“There were five children in the family, three of which had disabilities that
required the use of wheelchairs,” the plaque states. “The Prock Park proudly
remembers fun loving and faith living individuals.”
That plaque will also have a replica of a drawing of Prock’s Northside Store, as
well as an explanation of the business.
“Prock’s Northside Store that stood on this parcel of land offered general
grocery items, fresh meats and Dolly Madison dairy products to the Neillsville
community and surrounding area,” that plaque states.
The other plaque will have an image of the five children, three of whom are in
wheelchairs, to represent the Prock children.
Accompanied by that image will be the statement, “Challenges overcome, and
diversity celebrated… Proven by the Neillsville community with their compassion
and support of the Prock Family.”
The city bought the property that now contains Prock Park in 2018. The
beautification committee soon went to work on the banner sign that now sits on
the property. Eventually, local artist Chris Keller’s design was chosen. Also
put in were shrubs, flowers, a retaining wall and a flagpole that has the
American flag and the Wisconsin flag. There are also Artificial birds by the
sign for décor.
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