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 Interactive map of Madison Square Garden I | |
| Full name | Madison Square Garden |
|---|---|
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°44′34″N73°59′08″W / 40.74278°N 73.98556°W /40.74278; -73.98556 |
| Owner | William Kissam Vanderbilt |
| Operator | William Kissam Vanderbilt |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1874[1] |
| Opened | May 31, 1879 |
| Closed | 1890 |
| Demolished | 1890 |
Madison Square Garden (1879–1890) was anarena inNew York City at the northeast corner ofEast 26th Street andMadison Avenue inManhattan. The first venue to use that name, itseated 10,000 spectators. It was replaced with anew building on the same site.
The site upon which Madison Square Garden was eventually established was originally occupied by a small passenger depot of theNew York and Harlem Railroad. The site was vacated by the railroad in 1871 when it moved operations uptown toGrand Central Depot at 42nd Street. The site was vacant until 1874 when it was leased toP. T. Barnum who converted it into an open oval arena 270 feet (82 m) long, with seats and benches in banks, which he named theGreat Roman Hippodrome where he presented circuses and other performances. The roofless building was also calledBarnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome and measured 420 feet (130 m) by 200 feet (61 m).[1]
In 1876, the arena was leased to band leaderPatrick Gilmore, who renamed itGilmore's Garden and presented flower shows,beauty contests, music concerts,temperance andrevival meetings, walking marathons,[2] and the firstWestminster Kennel Club Dog Show, called at the time (1877) the "First Annual N.Y. Bench Show." Gilmore also presentedboxing, but since competitive boxing matches were technically illegal at the time, he called them "exhibitions" or "illustrated lectures."[1]
The next to lease the space was W. M. Tileston, who was an official of the dog show. He attempted to attract a more genteel crowd withtennis, a riding school and an ice carnival;[1] the arena had one of the first indoor ice rinks in the United States.[3]
After the death ofCornelius Vanderbilt, who owned the site, his grandsonWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt took back control and announced on May 31, 1879, that the arena was to be renamed "Madison Square Garden." Vanderbilt presented sporting events such as indoortrack and field meets, a convention ofElks, theNational Horse Show and more boxing, including some bouts featuringJohn L. Sullivan, who began a four-year series of exhibitions in July 1882, drawing over-capacity crowds. P.T. Barnum also used the Garden to exhibitJumbo, the elephant he had bought from theLondon Zoo; he drew sufficient business to recover the $10,000 pricetag.[1]
Another notable use of the first Garden was as avelodrome, an oval bicycle racing track with banked curves. At the time, bicycle racing was one of the biggest sports in the country. "[The] top riders [were] among the sports stars of their day. The bike races at Madison Square Garden were all the rage around the turn of the last century."[4] Madison Square Garden was the most important bicycle racing track in the United States and the Olympic discipline known as theMadison is named after the original Garden.[citation needed]
However, the Garden was hot in the summertime and freezing in the wintertime. It had a leaky roof and dangerous balconies that had collapsed resulting in deaths. Vanderbilt eventually sold whatHarper's Weekly called his "patched-up, grimy, drafty, combustible old shell" to a syndicate that includedJ. P. Morgan,Andrew Carnegie,James Stillman andW. W. Astor, who closed it to build a new arena designed by noted architectStanford White. Demolition began in July 1889,[1] and thesecond Madison Square Garden, which cost more than a half-million dollars to build, opened on June 6, 1890. It was demolished in 1926, and theNew York Life Building, designed byCass Gilbert and completed in 1928, replaced it on the site.[citation needed]
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