It calls itself the World’s Most Famous Arena, but to most New Yorkers, the 139-year-old event space is our local town hall where we’ve seen presidents, pucks, a pope and Pickles the Clown.
Local celebrities like Spike Lee, Jay-Z and Beyonce are just as comfortable courtside cheering on their favorite teams as they are performing center stage. Mick Jagger may have pranced on stage with the Rolling Stones during their many concerts, but he also danced in the audience as Bob Marley swayed his dreadlocks to a Rasta beat.
The first Garden got its start when Cornelius Vanderbilt moved his railroad to Grand Central Terminal from a spot near Madison Square Park, now the site of the New York Life Building. Promoter Phineas T. Barnum quickly saw his opportunity to build a large enclosed space with banked wooden benches around a 274-foot oval center that was equipped with only a tent roof for the most inclement days.
Called The Great Roman Hippodrome and Barnum’s Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome, it opened on April 27, 1874, but since it drew big crowds for only a few events, it went through several proprietors. Its most lasting legacy was hosting the first dog show in 1877, which continues to this day as the prominent Westminster Kennel Club show.
William Vanderbilt reclaimed his family’s property and reopened the venue on May 31, 1879, with a gala ceremony announcing its new name: Madison Square Garden. Grover Cleveland started the Garden’s political life that same year with a rally for his presidency, while boxing exhibitions and cycling held in its velodrome brought in larger crowds. Madison, an Olympic team sport in cycling, was named after this first Garden.
In 1892, Barnum brought over Jumbo the elephant from a London zoo and raked in thousands of dollars, more than covering his shipping costs, but the uncomfortable shanty-like space wasn’t up to the standards of the emerging city’s society.
That first Garden was sold to a group that included Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, who demolished it and ordered a second iteration. The building was ornately designed, featuring Moorish architecture and a 33-story minaret modeled on the Giralda in Seville. When it opened in 1920, it could hold 8,000 people in several venues.
As a gruesome footnote, the architect, Stanford White, was shot and killed in its upstairs cabaret in 1906 by the still-jealous husband of White’s previous lover, Evelyn Nesbit.
Many of today’s New Yorkers remember the “old” Garden III at Eighth Ave. and W. 50th St. — now the site of Worldwide Plaza — and its dark green décor, view-blocking columns and uncomfortable seats. Designed around viewing boxing matches by architect Thomas Lamb, it was developed for $4.75 million by boxing promoter George “Tex” Rickard.
Along with ongoing Rangers ice hockey, Celtics and then Knicks basketball games and the beloved Barnum & Bailey Circus, it was the scene of a rally for the 1932 presidential bid by Franklin Delano Roosevelt; a Hollywood Ice Review starring skater Sonja Henie in 1938; a rodeo in 1940 featuring popular cowboy Gene Autry; the 1942 fight when Sugar Ray Robinson defeated Jake LaMotta; and 16 nights of missions led by evangelist Billy Graham in 1957.
The building housing Madison Square Garden IV was developed on the full block between 31st and 33rd Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues and opened on February 11, 1968, over the underground Penn Station.
The original Pennsylvania Station, a majestic building similar to Grand Central Terminal, had been torn down under the excuse of it being too costly to maintain. Its developers were given a complete real estate tax pass by then-Mayor Ed Koch, who later realized the actual legislation had no sunset date, an issue that to this day ruffles city administrations and plagues the Garden ownership.
Garden IV was built around its core moneymakers: the three-ring circus, Rangers ice hockey and Knicks basketball, but has hosted both Democratic and Republican Conventions and other events from monster trucks to bull-riding, show jumping and a youth rally with then-newly elected Pope John Paul II on Oct. 2, 1979.
While the cover of Rolling Stone may be a highlight of a rock act’s career, performing at Madison Square Garden is the pinnacle of worldwide touring. Nearly every popular performer has played the Garden’s stage.
The Stanley Cup has been held aloft as the Rangers’ Mark Messier skated around the rink, and the Knicks have dunked enough to win two championships and four conference titles (see page 00.)
Now, with its modern renovation and technology, the Garden is now poised and ready to continue to host history-making moments well into the future.
