Wolverhampton Wanderers FC first played at Molineux in a Birmingham Senior Cup Semi-Final v. Walsall Town FC on March 6th 1886 when it was used as a neutral ground. At this time the venue, in an area on the north side of the Molineux Hotel, was primarily in use as a pleasure ground with a boating lake and skating rink and an oval sports field used for athletics, cycling and cricket as well as football.
The club moved in permanently from Dudley Road in 1889 and reconstructed the ground; all the gardens and the lake between the hotel (utilized as dressing rooms until c1905) and the oval were cleared away, a cover added to the existing 300 seat grandstand on the west side and narrow covers installed at the north end. The only alteration prior to WWI was an improvement to the terracing and installation of some new cover at the north end.
The ground was purchased in 1924 and, one year later, part of the west side cover was repositioned on the east (surviving only eight months before succumbing to a gale!) and a new main stand built on the west. Further major improvements took place with the removal of the oval and construction of new covered terracing at each end and the installation of a 3,450 seat stand on the east side prior to the record attendance of 61,315 being set at the FA Cup 5th Round tie v. Liverpool (4-1) on February 11th, 1939.
Molineux remained unaltered until 1979 when houses along the opposite side of Molineux Street were purchased and demolished enabling the pitch to be moved eastwards and a new 9,230 seat stand constructed on their site. Over the next 14 years new all-seat stands were constructed on each side of the ground and the capacity at the start of the 2007/8 season was 28,500. The pitch size was 116 x 74 yards.