War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo)

War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo)

War Memorial Stadium (affectionately known as The Rockpile) is the name of a stadium that formerly stood in Buffalo, New York. The stadium was on a rectangular block near the downtown area. Its main entrance was at Jefferson Avenue to the east (behind left field) and Best Street to the south (behind right field). Its other boundaries were Dodge Street to the north (behind third base) and Masten Park to the west (behind first base) with Masten Avenue farther west. War Memorial Stadium was originally constructed as a WPA project in 1937. It was originally named Roesch Memorial Stadium, though the name was changed to Grover Cleveland Stadium later in 1937 (honoring the former President and Buffalo public official) and then to Civic Stadium in 1938. The name was changed to War Memorial Stadium in 1960. The stadium originally sat 35,000, but many expansions took place over the years, raising the capacity to over 46,500. Despite this, by the time of the AFL-NFL merger it was one of the smallest stadiums in the league (below the league's 50,000-seat minimum), and so in 1973 (after considering and ultimately rejecting a move to Seattle) the Bills left War Memorial Stadium in favor of their current stadium, now known as Ralph Wilson Stadium, which had a capacity of over 80,000.