After being evicted from their previous permanent home at
Hermit Road in October 1896, Thames' chairman
Arnold Hills leased a temporary piece of land for the team at
Browning Road,
East Ham. However, the new situation was not ideal, so Hills earmarked a large section of land in
West Ham for a new stadium to be built upon. The new home cost £20,000 of
Arnold Hills' own money to build. The Memorial Grounds was opened on Jubilee Day, 22 June 1897, to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of
Queen Victoria's
coronation. Aside from a football pitch, the stadium contained a cycle track, a cinder running track, tennis courts and one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in England. It was said at the time that the grounds, with a capacity of 100,000 spectators, were "good enough to stage an English Cup Final." In November 1897
Arnold Hills secured an agreement with
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) to build a station at Manor Road. The LT&SR board approved this in February 1898 and Mowlem's was given the contract to build a four platform station, allowing for the proposed quadrupling of the line. The station was completed in May 1900 but did not open until 1 February 1901 as
West Ham. On 11 September 1897, in their first game at their new ground, Thames beat
Brentford 1–0. In West Ham United's first game at the grounds in front of 2,000 spectators, in the
Southern League on 1 September 1900, they won 7–0 against
Gravesend United, with
Billy Grassam scoring four. The Memorial Grounds was also home to
National Cycle Union meets, hosted
speedway and
motorcycle racing, and had the longest swimming pool in Britain. The faint outline of the cycle track remained visible on aerial photographs prior to the building of new football pitches at its north end at the turn of the 21st century. The venue was the first football ground to stage a boxing match, on 31 July 1909 when
Johnny Summers beat
Jimmy Britt in the ninth round of a 20-round contest. Nowadays, the site is a public park, known as Memorial Recreation Ground. It retains its sporting connection as the home of East London RFC, Kings Cross Steelers RFC and Newham Dockers Rugby League Club as well as having football facilities. ==See also==