Cooks Gardens has a rich history, encompassing early settlement days when the facility was utilised to grow vegetables for soldiers of the stockade. Its use as a sporting facility commenced in 1896 when the Wanganui Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club, the United Cricket Club and the Wanganui Rugby Union initiated the development of a sports arena.
Since then Cooks Gardens has been the venue of a number of the world’s historic athletic and cycling occasions, which has resulted in the Cooks Gardens name becoming legendary. One of these occasions was on 27 January 1962 when 13,000 people crammed into Cooks Gardens to witness Peter Snell run the fastest sub four minute mile ever run anywhere in the world at that time, with a time of 3min 54.4sec.
This deed catapulted Peter Snell and Cooks Gardens into the record books.
In 1996 a multi-million dollar re-development of Cooks Gardens took place.
This included an all-weather synthetic 400m athletic track, the first wooden cycling velodrome in New Zealand, and a new grandstand which includes some of the most up-to-date media, corporate box, security and event function facilities and provides seating for 2,370.
Although promoted primarily as an events and sports centre, Cooks Gardens has seen a wide range of events taking place including equestrian show jumping, rodeo, motor shows, concerts, tattoos and other forms of general entertainment.
Redevelopment of Cooks Gardens was completed in 2004 with the construction of two further grandstands, which provide an additional 1,170 covered seats, 4 sports changing rooms, officials’ facilities, medical rooms, and public toilets.
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