"[2] In November 1897 Arnold Hills secured an agreement with London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) to build a station at Manor Road.

The LT&SR board approved this in February 1898 and Mowlem's was given the contract to build a four platform station, allowing for the proposed quadrupling of the line.

[2][4] The Memorial Grounds was also home to National Cycle Union meets, hosted speedway and motorcycle racing, and had the longest swimming pool in Britain.

[5] The faint outline of the cycle track remained visible on aerial photographs prior to the building of new football pitches at its north end at the turn of the 21st century.

The venue was the first football ground to stage a boxing match, on 31 July 1909 when Johnny Summers beat Jimmy Britt in the ninth round of a 20-round contest.