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 1941 postcard depicting the building | |
 Interactive map of Madison Square Garden III | |
| Full name | Madison Square Garden |
|---|---|
| Location | Manhattan,New York |
| Coordinates | 40°45′45″N73°59′16″W / 40.7624°N 73.9877°W /40.7624; -73.9877 |
| Owner | Tex Rickard |
| Operator | Tex Rickard |
| Capacity | Basketball: 18,496 Ice hockey: 15,925 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | January 9, 1925 (100 years ago) (1925-01-09) |
| Opened | December 15, 1925 (99 years ago) (1925-12-15) |
| Closed | February 13, 1968 (57 years ago) (1968-02-13) |
| Demolished | 1968–1969 |
| Architect | Thomas W. Lamb |
| Tenants | |
| New York/Brooklyn Americans (NHL) (1925–1942) New York Rangers (NHL) (1926–1968) St. John's Redmen (NCAA) (1930s–1968) National Invitation Tournament (1938–1967) New York Knicks (BAA/NBA) (1946–1968) | |
Madison Square Garden (MSG III) was anindoor arena inNew York City, the third bearing that name. Built in 1925 and closed in 1968, it was located on the west side ofEighth Avenue between49th and50th streets inManhattan, on the site of the city's trolley-car barns.[1] It was the first Garden that was not located nearMadison Square. MSG III was the home of theNew York Rangers of theNational Hockey League and theNew York Knicks of theNational Basketball Association, and also hosted numerousboxing matches, theMillrose Games, theNational Invitation Tournament,Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, concerts, and other events. In 1968 it was demolished and its role and name passed to thefourth Madison Square Garden, which stands at the site of theoriginal Penn Station.One Worldwide Plaza was built on the arena's former 50th Street location.
Groundbreaking on the third Madison Square Garden took place on January 9, 1925.[1] Designed bythe theater architectThomas W. Lamb, it was built at the cost of $4.75 million in 349 days by boxing promoterTex Rickard, who assembled backers he called his "600 millionaires" to fund the project.[1] The new arena was dubbed "The House That Tex Built."[2] In contrast to the ornate towers ofStanford White'ssecond Garden, the exterior of MSG III was a simple box. Its most distinctive feature was the ornatemarquee above the main entrance, with seemingly endless abbreviations (Tomw., V/S, Rgrs, Tonite, Thru, etc.) Even the name of the arena was abbreviated, to "Madison Sq. Garden".
The arena, which opened on December 15, 1925,[3] was 200 feet (61 m) by 375 feet (114 m), with seating on three levels, and a maximumcapacity of 18,496 spectators for boxing.[1] It had poor sight lines, especially for hockey, and fans sitting virtually anywhere behind the first row of the side balcony could count on having some portion of the ice obstructed. The poor ventilation and allowed smoking often caused haze in the upper portions of the Garden.
Madison Square Garden III was managed by Rickard,John S. Hammond, William F. Carey, GeneralJohn Reed Kilpatrick,Ned Irish andIrving Mitchell Felt.[1] It was eventually replaced by the fourthMadison Square Garden.
Boxing was Madison Square Garden III's principal claim to fame. The first bout took place on December 11, 1925, a week before its official opening, as world light heavyweight championPaul Berlenbach defended his title against challengerJack Delaney before more than 22,000 fans.[4]
On January 17, 1941, 23,190 people witnessedFritzie Zivic's successful welterweight title defense againstHenry Armstrong, still the largest crowd at any of the Gardens.[5]
TheNew York Rangers, owned by the Garden's ownerTex Rickard, got their name from a play on words involving his name:Tex's Rangers. However, the Rangers were not the first NHL team to play at the Garden; theNew York Americans had begun play in 1925 – and officially opened the Garden in front of 17,000 by losing to theMontreal Canadiens, 3-1[1] –Shorty Green of the Americans was the first player to score a goal in the arena.[3] The Americans were so tremendously successful that Rickard wanted his own team. The Rangers were founded in 1926 and played their first game in the Garden on November 16, 1926.[1] Both teams played at the Garden until the Americans suspended operations in 1942 due toWorld War II. In the meantime, the Rangers had usurped the Americans with their own success, winning threeStanley Cups between 1928 and 1940. The refusal of the Garden's management to allow the postwar resurrection of the Americans team was one popular theory underlying theCurse of 1940, which supposedly prevented the Rangers from winning another Stanley Cup until 1994. Another alleged cause of "The Curse" stemmed from manager Kilpatrick burning the Garden's mortgage papers in the bowl of the Stanley Cup, made possible by receipts from the 1940 Cup run. Hockey purists believed that the trophy had been "defiled", leading to the Rangers' woes.
TheNew York Rovers, a farm team of the Rangers, played in the Garden on Sunday afternoons, while the Rangers played on Wednesday and Sunday nights.[1]Tommy Lockhart managed the Rovers games and introduced on-ice promotions such as racingmodel aircraft andbicycles around the arena,figure skating actsShipstads & Johnson Ice Follies andSonja Henie, and a skatinggrizzly bear.[6] The fourth floor of the Garden had a second sheet of ice, used for public skating, recreational hockey, and as the Rangers' practice facility.
The first professional basketball game was played in the 50th Street Garden on December 6, 1925, nine days before the arena officially opened. It pitted theOriginal Celtics against theWashington Palace Five. The Celtics won 35–31.[1] TheNew York Knicks debuted there in 1946, although if there was an important college game, they played in the69th Regiment Armory.[1] Due to other event bookings in the arena, all their home games during the1951,1952 and1953NBA Finals were played at the Armory; thus MSG III never hosted an NBA Finals game. MSG III hosted theNBA All-Star Game in 1954, 1955 and 1968.
In 1931, a highly successful college basketball triple header raised money for MayorJimmy Walker's Unemployment Relief Fund. In 1934,Ned Irish began promoting a successful series of college basketball double headers at the Garden featuring a mix of local and national teams. MSG III began hosting theNational Invitation Tournament annually in 1938, and hosted sevenNCAA men's basketball championship finals between 1943 and 1950. On February 28, 1940, Madison Square Garden hosted the first televised basketball games in a Fordham-Pitt andGeorgetown-NYU doubleheader. Apoint shaving scandal involving games played at the Garden led the NCAA to reduce its use of the Garden, and caused some schools, including 1950 NCAA and NIT ChampionCity College of New York (CCNY), to be banned from playing there.[7]
Capitol Wrestling Corporation—along with its successor, theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation—promoted professional wrestling at the Garden during its last two decades.Toots Mondt andJess McMahon owned CWC, which initially promoted tag team wrestling. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Mondt and McMahon were successful at promoting ethnic heroes ofPuerto Rican orItalian descent.
Two historic wrestling events took place at MSG III. On May 17, 1963,Bruno Sammartino defeated"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, via submission, in 48 seconds, to become the second everWWWF World Heavyweight Champion. On November 19, 1957, theDr. Jerry Graham &Dick the Bruiser vs.Edouard Carpentier &Argentina Rocca main event led to a race riot involving Italian and Puerto Rican fans of Carpentier and Rocca. After the riot, New York City nearly bannedprofessional wrestling and children under the age of 14 were prohibited from attending.[8]
From 1925 until 1961, Madison Square Garden hosted theSix Days of New York, an annualsix-day racing event oftrack cycling. Upon its final running, it was the longest-running series in the world with 73 editions.
TheRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus debuted at the second Garden in 1919, and moved to the third Garden in 1926 where it opened each spring for about a four-week engagement. The circus was so important to the Garden that for the1928 Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers were forced to play all their games on the road, but they still won the series. The circus performed as often as three times daily throughout the life of the third Garden, repeatedly knocking the Rangers out of the Garden at playoff time.[9]
The circus acrobatics included acts in the rings, on the high wire, and trapeze. In the early 1930s wild animal trainerClyde Beatty was a featured performer during the circus engagements in New York and Boston before returning to theHagenbeck-Wallace Circus for a tour under canvas. Many of the most famous clowns in America appeared each year before hundreds of thousands of fans. Among the most famous were sad-faced clownEmmett Kelly as well asFelix Adler andLou Jacobs.
The Garden continued to hostThe Westminster Kennel Club's annual dog show. This championship is the third-longest continuously running U.S. sporting event (behind only theKentucky Derby andKentucky Oaks).
On November 3, 1960,Penn Station's ownersPennsylvania Railroad announced they had sold their air rights to the Madison Square Garden Corporation to build a new arena replacing Penn Station's original building. Previously, the corporation had sought to replace the arena as early as 1946 due to poor sight lines from the upper decks and expanding attendance. Even though the Rangers played poorly during this time, they still sold out every game; added to the rising popularity of the Knicks, the demand for a new arena grew. Demolition of Penn Station commenced in 1963 with major controversy surrounding the demolition of a historic architectural landmark and the new Madison Square Garden was completed in 1968 with its first event being held on February 12, 1968. Originally the third Garden was planned to close at the end of the summer of 1967 but construction delays pushed the opening to February 1968. Their final Knicks game in Madison Square Garden was on February 10, a 115–97 win against thePhiladelphia 76ers, just weeks after the1968 NBA All-Star Game which was originally supposed to be held in the new Garden. The final Rangers game was held on February 11, 1968, resulting in a 3–3 tie against theDetroit Red Wings.Jean Ratelle was the last player to score a goal in the arena with 19:15 remaining in the third. After the game, former Ranger greats along with players representing other NHL teams over the previous 43 years, including New York Americans playersLorne Carr andEddie Shore skated on the ice in a closure ceremony. Two days later, the last event in the Garden was theWestminster Dog Show.[citation needed]
There were no plans to keep the old Madison Square Garden and demolition commenced in the summer of 1968, finishing in early 1969. After the third Madison Square Garden was torn down, there was a proposal to build the world's tallest building on the site, prompting a major battle in theHell's Kitchen neighborhood where it was located. Ultimately, the debate resulted in strict height restrictions in the area. The space remained a parking lot until 1989 whenWorldwide Plaza, designed byDavid Childs ofSkidmore, Owings and Merrill, opened on the site of the old Garden.
| This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Madison Square Garden" 1925 – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Preceded by | Home of the New York Americans 1925–1942 | Succeeded by last arena |
| Preceded by First arena | Home of the New York Rangers 1926–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by First arena | Home of the New York Knicks 1946–1968 | Succeeded by |
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