Madonna Field—also known as Madonna Park—located near Forest Avenue and Williams Street in Englewood, became one of New Jersey’s most active and visible boxing and baseball venues during the 1920s. Owned by the Knights of Columbus through Madonna Council No. 520, the grounds were developed into a structured athletic complex with a grandstand seating approximately 2,000 spectators. From the outset, it was built to host organized, ticketed competition rather than informal recreation.

During its peak years, Madonna Field placed Englewood firmly within the metropolitan sporting world of northern New Jersey and New York.

Baseball anchored Madonna Field’s early prominence. The Englewood City Club and other strong local teams used the park as their home ground, hosting important Tri-County League contests and inter-city matchups that drew crowds from across Bergen and Hudson Counties.

Significantly, Madonna Park also hosted Negro League baseball. Englewood’s own Cubs regularly played there, and other Black professional teams appeared on the grounds during the era of racial segregation in organized baseball. At a time when Major League Baseball excluded African American players, Madonna Field served as a competitive stage for Black professional athletes and brought Negro League–level play before Englewood audiences.

The presence of the Englewood Cubs underscores the park’s importance not only in local baseball but within the broader independent Black baseball circuit that thrived in the 1920s.

If baseball established Madonna Field, boxing elevated it.

By the mid-1920s, the baseball diamond was frequently transformed into an outdoor prizefighting arena. A professional ring was erected at center field, and full fight cards—complete with preliminary bouts and ten-round main events—were staged before large crowds.

The venue attracted:

• State champions

• Prominent lightweights and welterweights

• Recognized regional contenders

• Wrestling champions in special feature attractions

Fight nights drew hundreds—sometimes thousands—of spectators from Bergen, Hudson, and neighboring counties. Madonna Field became known as a reliable stop on the North Jersey fight circuit and one of the most active suburban boxing venues in the state.

Its stature was further underscored by the attendance of legendary heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, who was reported to have attended matches at the park. Dempsey’s presence connected Madonna Field to the highest echelon of boxing celebrity during the sport’s golden age.

As an outdoor arena, Madonna Field was vulnerable to rain and weather disruptions. Fight cards were occasionally postponed, requiring promoters to renegotiate bouts and re-sign fighters. Despite these financial risks, major events continued to be scheduled there—evidence of strong regional demand and the park’s drawing power.

The regular staging of championship-level contests demonstrates that Madonna Field functioned not as a minor local ground, but as a serious athletic venue integrated into the broader New Jersey–New York sports network.

By 1930, Madonna Park entered a new phase and became known as the Englewood Arena, operated by the Bergen County Sportsmen Club. The change in name reflected its established identity as a formal athletic arena rather than simply a fraternal field.

While operational control shifted, the site’s reputation as a boxing and baseball center endured. The new branding acknowledged what the 1920s had already proven: the grounds near Forest Avenue and Williams Street were a regional sports destination.

For roughly a decade—from the early 1920s through the onset of the Great Depression—Madonna Field stood as one of Bergen County’s premier athletic venues. It was:

• A competitive Tri-County League baseball ground

• A Negro League venue featuring Englewood’s Cubs

• A recurring site for championship-level boxing

• A destination attended by figures such as Jack Dempsey

• A structured arena capable of drawing thousands

Madonna Field was more than a neighborhood park. It was Englewood’s arena—a place where semi-professional baseball, Negro League competition, prizefighting, and civic pride converged during one of the most vibrant eras in American sports history.