History
The St. Louis Cardinals' Rochester affiliate opened Red Wing Stadium on Rochester's north side in May 1929. An Opening Day crowd of 19,006 in 1931 remained the park's baseball record.
When the Cardinals threatened to pull out in the 1950s, a community stock drive led by Morrie Silver bought the club, and in 1968 the park was renamed in his honor. The Red Wings later became a Baltimore Orioles affiliate.
Besides the Red Wings, the park hosted American Football League teams in the mid-1930s and the Negro National League's New York Black Yankees in 1948. In its last decade it drew its biggest crowds for concerts and a 1988 Billy Graham crusade.
The Red Wings moved to the new downtown Frontier Field for 1997 after a last playoff game in September 1996. The old stadium was demolished around the turn of 1998, and the land became an industrial and office park.
Why it matters: It hosted Rochester's community-owned Triple-A franchise for nearly seven decades and is closely tied to the Morrie Silver ownership drive that kept baseball in the city.
Timeline
- May 2, 1929
The new park opened in the rain; Reading beat Rochester 3-0.
- August 1968
The park was renamed for Morrie Silver, who led the community ownership drive that kept the Red Wings in Rochester.
- 1987
A multimillion-dollar overhaul reduced capacity.
- June 30, 1988Grateful Dead record crowd[1]
A Grateful Dead concert drew about 31,000, the stadium's largest attendance.
- September 10, 1996
Columbus beat Rochester 4-0 in a Governors' Cup playoff game, the last game at the park.
- January 1998
Wrecking crews took down the stadium; Wikipedia dates the work to late 1997-early 1998.
The site today
| Physical status | Site redeveloped[1,2] |
|---|---|
| Current use | Industrial and office park (Excel Industry Park, per SABR)[1,2] |
| Surviving remnants | A plaque at the office park honors the stadium (SABR)[2] |
| Mapped location | Former venue site |
Street View near the former site · Satellite view (external, current imagery)
Teams & events
| Rochester Red Wings | International League · 1929–1996 |
|---|---|
| New York Black Yankees | Negro National League · 1948 |
| Rochester Tigers | American Football League · 1936–1937 · tenant |
Listed here are organizations that used this physical venue. A franchise's history and a venue's history are tracked separately.
Venue facts
| Other names | Red Wing Stadium (1929–1968) |
|---|---|
| Location | 500 Norton Street, Rochester, New York[1,2] |
| Venue type | Ballpark |
| Sports | Baseball, Football |
| Level | Minor League, Negro Leagues |
| Opened | May 2, 1929[1,2] |
| Last used for sports | September 10, 1996[1,2] |
| Demolished | 1997–1998[1,2] |
| Physical status | Site redeveloped |
| Original capacity | 15,000[1,2] |
| Final capacity | 11,502[1,2] |
| Capacity notes | Wikipedia: 15,000 (1929-1987), 12,503 (1987-1994), 11,502 (1995-1996). SABR gives a range of figures over time (about 12,000 originally; 11,503 in 1994). Record crowd 19,006 on Opening Day 1931 (SABR). |
| Architect | George W. Thompson[1] |
| Construction cost | $415,000 (Wikipedia); SABR cites an opening-day report of almost $400,000[1] |
| Owner / operator | Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. |
| Closure | Replaced by the new downtown ballpark, Frontier Field (now ESL Ballpark). |
Documented details
Connected venues
Sources
- Silver Stadium, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: address, architect, capacity, closed, construction cost, coordinates, current land use, demolished, opened, teams
- Silver Stadium, Rochester, NY, Society for American Baseball Research (Kurt Blumenau). Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: address, capacity, closed, current land use, demolished, opened, remnants, teams
Research confidence
Key facts on this page (opening, closing, status and location) are each supported by sources, with key dates corroborated by at least two independent sources. Last reviewed 2026-10-19.
Where sources disagree (4)
- Demolition: Wikipedia says late 1997-early 1998; SABR says demolition began January 1998.
- Final regular-season game: August 31, 1996 (Wikipedia) vs August 30, 1996 (SABR).
- Construction cost: $415,000 (Wikipedia) vs an opening-day estimate of almost $400,000 (SABR).
- SABR lists a George Clinton concert after the 1996 season as the final event; 'closed' records the last baseball game.
See something wrong or missing? Suggest a correction or submit a source.