Description of Historic Place

Royals Field is a baseball diamond located in the heart of Marysville, Fredericton, on “Baseball Hill”. Now a modern facility complete with risers and dressing rooms, Royals Field has been in regular use for more than a century by Marysville sports enthusiasts.

Heritage Value

Royals Field is designated a Local Historic Place for symbolizing the importance of the sport of baseball in the former town of Marysville, now part of the City of Fredericton; the earliest game on record notes the Marysville team defeating the Saint John Roses in 1895. Baseball was, for many of the men who worked in “Boss” Gibson’s cotton mill in the 1880s and 1890s, the primary summer recreation. The location of Royals Field, named after the home team, is integral to the value of the site. Local histories record that regular games between Marysville “wards” took place after the evening shift at the mill; the placement of the field in close relation to the Gibson tenement houses ensured that these “twilight games” provided entertainment for mill workers and their families. Still in regular use, the field has been the site of numerous tournaments and a number of players have been scouted to semi-professional and professional teams.

Royals Field is also recognized for being a symbol of community spirit. The field has been improved and maintained through the efforts of volunteers, including the construction of a rail fence in 1911 to prevent cows from the neighbouring field from disrupting the games. After the Second World War, volunteers built a new fence, a dressing room, a canteen and bleachers to seat 2,000 fans. In 1947, clay from the old Gibson brickyard was used to upgrade the field, and in 1971 the field became the third in the province to install flood lights for night baseball – both made possible through dedicated volunteer efforts.

Source: City of Fredericton, Local Historic Places file, “60 Morrison Street, Royals Field”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements associated with Royals Field include:
- its location at the top of ‘Baseball Hill’;
- proximity to the brick tenement dwellings which housed the working-class employees of Alexander “Boss” Gibson’s cotton mill;
- the name “Royals Field”;
- continued regular use of the field from the late 1800s to present day.