Wrexham football club was formed in 1872 (despite the badge saying 1873) and following a rent dispute in 1881 with the Racecourse Grounds landlords they played for 2 seasons at Rhosddu Ground, they did move back to the Racecourse Ground for the 1883-84 season and have played their football there ever since.
The ground can actually boast that it was developed in the 1930’s by W H Smiths, not however the famous one, this company was a building firm who actually specialised in farm buildings not football grounds !!
In the 1960s a stand (later known as the pigeon loft) was bought from a local cinema and perched on top of the existing kop terrace to boost attendances, this survived until 1978 when it was sold on to Wrexham rugby club. The picture below is taken from a 1970’s Football Review magazine, unfortunately it doesn’t show the Pigeon Loft !!
The text on the picture reads as follows;
“Third Division Wrexhams Racecourse Ground has a capacity of 36,000 with seated accomodation for 5,520. The ground record was established in January 1957 when 34,445 spectators watched the FA Cup fourth round tie against Manchester United. The playing surface measures 117 yards by 75 yards. Inset: Wrexham skipper Eddie May.”
The picture above is available for sale (along with loads more Wrexham football memorabilia) on our main site Footybits, a link to which is at the top of this page.