Championships

1st 1954

2nd 1955

3rd 1956

4th 1975

The stadium was originally built in 1938 on land deeded to the City for the purpose of constructing public sports fields by Mackenzie King (a personal friend of then Mayor Clarke). The original Clarke Stadium accommodated approximately 20,000 fans in the spartan conditions consistent with its era. The seating area consisted of two grandstands on opposing sidelines (no "endzone" stands originally, but these were added in later years). The stadium hosted the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in 1938 and 1939 before going bankrupt.Ê They begun again in 1949 wearing the now iconic Green and Gold uniforms, and were again in Clarke Stadium until 1978. The team moved to Commonwealth Stadium, which had been built adjacent to Clarke Stadium in preparation for the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Clarke stadium was used for local and minor league sporting events after the departure of the Eskimos. The stadium was named after former Edmonton mayor Joseph Andrew Clarke. The stadium was effectively demolished on May 3, 2000.

December 20, 1999 Ian Spears writes: Here is a photo of Clarke Stadium circa 1950, taken from a post card. The caption on the post card reads "An aerial view of Clarke Stadium at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, home of the Edmonton Eskimos, the [WIFU] Champions 1952." By that caption, I'd say the card was first published no later than summer 1954, otherwise it would have mentioned the 1954 Dominion Championship! This shows the lot where Commonwealth now stands, thus would be rather suitable beside the present bird's eye photo you have on the Clarke Stadium page. The postcard is a fraction of an inch out of register, and thus I cannot do much better for clarity of the image. (It's printed by Dexter press, whom I believe may still be in business; maybe they have the original films still after all these years???)

Edmonton Eskimos Clarke Stadium 1938-1939 1949-1978 Commonwealth Stadium 1978-Present