Searching for early memories of Weiser’s Memorial Park

I’m writing in hopes of tapping into the community’s collective memory and historical knowledge about Memorial Park here in Weiser. My dad and uncles told me stories about farmers and town people building Memorial Park.  

 As many know, Memorial Park was officially dedicated in June of 1948 as a community-built project, created largely through volunteer effort in the post – World War II era. It quickly became the center of recreation in Weiser, especially for baseball and other athletics.

 What I’ve recently learned – and found especially interesting – is that baseball in Weiser goes back much further. Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson played in Weiser as a young man in 1906-1907, decades before Memorial Park even existed. That raises some fascinating questions about how our town’s baseball tradition transitioned from those early ballfields near downtown into the organized facilities we’ve used for generations.

 I’d love to learn more about the early days of Memorial Park itself. In particular:

 • When was the first Weiser High School baseball and football games played at the park?

 • How soon after the 1948 dedication did school teams begin using the field regularly?

 • Are there records, scorebooks, or personal recollections from those first seasons?

 It would also be fun to know just how many games were coached on that field by some of the names many in this community remember well – Roy Dickerson, Dale Emert, Dallas Mathias and Charlie Gill. Their years of involvement represent a huge part of Weiser’s football and baseball legacy, and Memorial Park was clearly central to that story.

 If anyone in the community has old photos, newspaper clippings, programs, or even personal memories related to early games at Memorial Park, I – and I’m sure many others – would love to hear about them.

 Weiser has a rich baseball and football history, and it would be great to piece together more of the story connecting its early beginnings to the field we still use today. I also think it’s time to remember our Memorial Park as the community, post World War II park and gathering place.