When Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium opened in 1937 it must have set some sort of record.

After all, more than 50,000 tickets were sold for the Jersey City Giants' minor-league baseball game against the Rochester Red Wings. But what makes it historic is that the stadium only had 24,500 seats.

The story goes that if you worked for the city, Mayor Frank Hague "suggested" that you buy a ticket to big events at the stadium -- which was built under the New Deal program to stimulate the economy after the Depression.

The stadium, which was located in the southwest area of the city known as Droyers Point, just off Newark Bay, would go on to be used for baseball and football games, boxing matches, concerts and even ice skating.

The land was formerly used for the Jersey City airport in the late 1920s.

Its claim to fame though is that Jackie Robinson played his first game in organized professional baseball there on April 18, 1946 when the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers minor-league team, played the Jersey City Giants.

Robinson, who would break the major league baseball color barrier a year later, had four hits in that game. Playing that day for Jersey City was Bobby Thomson, who five years later hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" to beat Robinson's Dodgers for the 1951 National League pennant.

The Dodgers, with attendance starting to dwindle in Brooklyn, played seven games at Roosevelt Stadium in 1956 and another eight there in 1957.

Years later, another future baseball Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson, would call Roosevelt Stadium his home for a shot time.

Musical artists including Grateful Dead and Crosby, Still, Nash and Young, Pink Floyd and Kiss also performed at the stadium.

As the stadium fell into disrepair it became a liability to the city and it was eventually demolished in the 1980s.

Society Hill, a gated condominium community, now sits in the area where Roosevelt Stadium once stood.

Scroll the photos and share some of your experiences in Roosevelt Stadium in the comments below.