Rogers Park is a 56-acre public park and recreational facility in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, United States, located at the end of Main Street at South Street. It hosts six baseball fields, four softball fields, a multi-purpose turf field, eight tennis courts, seven volleyball courts, four handball-paddleball courts, a spray park, a playground, an outdoor ice rink (during cold weather), a concession stand, a pond with a hiking/nature trail, the War Memorial building, several veterans monuments and the

Charles Ives House The Charles Ives House, also known as Charles Ives Birthplace, is located on Mountainville Avenue in Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It is a wooden frame structure built in 1780 and expanded on since. Over the course of the 19th century, it ...

History

On December 6, 1935, voters rejected a proposal to turn the Danbury airport into an athletic park. The vote was sparked by complaints of noise generated by the airport. However, the vote focused community attention on the shortage of playgrounds and parks in the city. The local Lions Club pushed the previously rejected idea of the City accepting a donation of 20 acres of swampy land at the intersection of Main Street and South Street from Cephas Rogers. Rogers was a local industrialist who was hard hit by the Depression. The donation would be made for forgiveness of his $6,000 tax debt. The Common Council accepted the offer, and applied to the WPA for funds to drain the land and build access roads and athletic facilities. 200 workers began work in 1937. The project was finished in mid-1940 at a cost of about $175,000, $30,000 of which the City paid. Cephas B. Rogers Park opened in the spring of 1941. Over the years, the City acquired additional acreage to increase the size of the park. The War Memorial, a community center that also houses a gymnasium, opened in Rogers Park in 1951, along with Memorial Drive, the road through the middle of the park. The

was moved to Rogers Park in 1967 from its original site on Main Street.

Baseball

Rogers Park hosts a baseball venue that consists of six fields: Fields 1, 2, 3 and 4 (which have 60 foot base paths) and Mountainville and Rogers Park Fields (which have 90 foot base paths). Rogers Park Field has been home to the

Danbury Westerners The Danbury Westerners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Danbury, Connecticut. The team, a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, plays their home games at Rogers Park. The team played its inaugural season in 1995. Th ...

of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

since

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. The first baseball field was built at Rogers Park in the early 1960s. Three more fields were added in the late 1970s. Field 2 was built in the early 1980s. The "Blockhouse", a two-story concession stand with storage and offices, was built in 1992.

Notes

{{NECBL Ballparks New England Collegiate Baseball League ballparks Baseball venues in Connecticut 1941 establishments in Connecticut Sports venues completed in 1941 Buildings and structures in Danbury, Connecticut Sports venues in Fairfield County, Connecticut Tourist attractions in Danbury, Connecticut