War Memorial Stadium sat on Buffalo’s East Side at 285 Dodge Street for more than five decades, but almost nobody who watched a game there called it that. To generations of fans it was simply ‘The Rockpile’ — a rough, weather-beaten concrete bowl that hosted the AFL’s Buffalo Bills, minor league baseball’s Buffalo Bisons, college football, and even NASCAR before wrecking balls took it down in 1989.
This guide covers the stadium’s full timeline — from its 1937 opening as a Depression-era WPA project through its Hollywood cameo in The Natural — plus how it became the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, the sports complex that still occupies the site today.
Quick Answer
War Memorial Stadium — nicknamed ‘The Rockpile’ — was a multi-purpose stadium at 285 Dodge Street on Buffalo’s East Side. Built as a Works Progress Administration project, it opened October 16, 1937, expanded to a capacity of 46,206, and served as home to the Buffalo Bills (1960–1972) and Buffalo Bisons baseball. It was demolished in 1989 after closing on May 6 of that year, and its footprint is now the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion.
From Reservoir to WPA Ballpark
The site’s public history predates the stadium by decades: the city acquired the land from Alvin Dodge Jr. in 1880 and used it for the Prospect Reservoir, a water source that served Buffalo until 1915. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration built the stadium atop that former reservoir site as part of the New Deal’s push to put unemployed workers on civic construction projects, at a cost of roughly $3 million.
It opened October 16, 1937, as Roesch Memorial Stadium with a capacity around 35,000–36,500. The name changed almost immediately to Grover Cleveland Stadium, then to Civic Stadium in 1938, and finally to War Memorial Stadium in 1960, honoring the borough’s wartime dead. That last name is the one that stuck through the venue’s most famous era.
Home of the Buffalo Bills: The Rockpile Era
When the American Football League launched in 1960, the Buffalo Bills made War Memorial Stadium their home, and it stayed that way through 1972. The Bills won AFL championships in 1964 and 1965 while based there, then lost the 1966 AFL title game to the Kansas City Chiefs, 31–7 — a game played at the Rockpile that sent Kansas City to Super Bowl I.
A mid-1960s expansion pushed seating to 46,206, but the stadium’s biggest crowd ever wasn’t a Bills game at all: 50,988 fans packed in on October 21, 1948, for a high school football showdown between Bennett and Kensington — still the venue’s all-time attendance record. Once Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) opened in Orchard Park in 1973, the Bills left the Rockpile for good.
Why It’s Called “The Rockpile”
The nickname wasn’t affectionate marketing — it described a stadium that was chronically underfunded and poorly maintained, with hard concrete stands and a threadbare, industrial feel. Sports Illustrated’s Brock Yates captured the sentiment in 1969, joking that the place looked “as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines.”
Even so, fans embraced the name. “The Rockpile” became shorthand for the gritty, no-frills character of early AFL football in Buffalo, and it’s still the term most fans and historians use today — often more than the stadium’s official name.
War Memorial Stadium as a Baseball Park: The Buffalo Bisons
War Memorial Stadium was also Buffalo’s primary baseball venue for large stretches of its life. The Bisons moved in during 1961, after their previous home, Offermann Stadium, was closed and demolished, and played there through 1970 before the franchise relocated to Winnipeg.
Professional baseball returned to the Rockpile in 1979 when the Bisons were revived at the Double-A level (later Triple-A), playing there through 1987 and drawing the crowds that helped justify a new downtown ballpark. The Bisons moved into Pilot Field (now Sahlen Field) in 1988, and the Rockpile’s center-field flagpole was relocated to the new stadium in July 1990 as a physical link between the two ballparks.
NASCAR Racing and Other Notable Events
Beyond football and baseball, the stadium hosted the Canisius Golden Griffins in college football and baseball, the annual Coaches All-America Game from 1961–1965, and a quarter-mile cinder track added in 1940 for early NASCAR racing. NASCAR ran a Convertible Division race there on July 7, 1956 (won by Joe Weatherly) and a Grand National race on July 19, 1958 (won by Jim Reed) — a reminder of just how many different sports cycled through the Rockpile in its 52-year run.
Hollywood at the Rockpile: The Natural (1984)
One of the stadium’s last moments in the spotlight came on film rather than on the field. Filmmakers used War Memorial Stadium as the home ballpark of the fictional New York Knights in The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford. The stadium’s aged concrete grandstands gave the production an authentic early-20th-century look that a modern ballpark couldn’t fake — a fitting send-off for a venue built during the Depression era it was meant to evoke on screen.
Demolition and the Johnnie B. Wiley Pavilion
War Memorial Stadium closed on May 6, 1989, with a college baseball game in which Akron beat Canisius, 11–2. It was demolished later that year, and the site sat as a redevelopment project until 1992, when the city opened the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion — a $6.8 million youth and amateur sports complex that deliberately preserved some of the original stadium’s entrances.
The pavilion is named for Johnnie B. Wiley, a longtime advocate and mentor for young people on Buffalo’s East Side; the naming was formalized in 1997 to honor his community work. Today the complex hosts amateur track and field, youth sports programs, and mentoring activities, and it’s run in part by Wiley’s son, Cedric Holloway, continuing the East Side sports tradition the Rockpile started in 1937.
Not to Be Confused With: Other Stadiums and Arenas Named “War Memorial”
“War Memorial” is a common name for civic sports venues built to honor veterans, so it’s easy to land on the wrong page. The most notable mix-up is War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming — an active, 29,000-plus-seat college football stadium on the University of Wyoming campus, home to the Wyoming Cowboys since 1950 and, at roughly 7,220 feet of elevation, the highest stadium in FBS football. It has no connection to Buffalo’s stadium beyond the shared name.
Similarly, searches for “Memorial Coliseum” sometimes turn up unrelated arenas like the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, or Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum — none of which are the Buffalo Rockpile covered on this page.
War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo) FAQs
Why was War Memorial Stadium called “The Rockpile”?
The nickname described the stadium’s rough, poorly maintained concrete construction — Sports Illustrated writer Brock Yates joked in 1969 that it looked like whatever war it memorialized had been fought inside it. Fans adopted the name affectionately, and it’s still the stadium’s best-known label today.
When was Buffalo’s War Memorial Stadium demolished?
It closed on May 6, 1989, after a college baseball game between Akron and Canisius, and was demolished later that year. The site was redeveloped as the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, which opened in 1992.
Did the Buffalo Bisons play at War Memorial Stadium?
Yes. The Bisons played there from 1961 to 1970 before moving to Winnipeg, then returned in 1979 and played through 1987, when the team moved to the newly built Pilot Field (now Sahlen Field) in downtown Buffalo.
Who was Johnnie B. Wiley?
Johnnie B. Wiley was a longtime community advocate and mentor for young people on Buffalo’s East Side. The sports complex built on the stadium’s former site was named in his honor in 1997 and is still run in part by his son, Cedric Holloway.
What movie was filmed at War Memorial Stadium?
The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford, used War Memorial Stadium as the home ballpark of the fictional New York Knights. Its aged concrete grandstands gave the film an authentic vintage-ballpark look.
Is Buffalo’s War Memorial Stadium the same as the one in Laramie, Wyoming?
No. Buffalo’s War Memorial Stadium (the Rockpile) was demolished in 1989. War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming is a separate, still-active college football stadium at the University of Wyoming, home to the Wyoming Cowboys since 1950.
Get More from War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo)
Log the coasters, stadiums, and venues you’ve experienced, rate War Memorial Stadium (Buffalo), and see what your friends thought. Get the ThrillZing app.